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Netanyahu Says Claim Israel Agreed To Ceasefire "Not True"; Netanyahu Spokesperson: Biden Only Presented "Partial" Outline Of Ceasefire Deal; Claudia Sheinbaum To Become Country's First Female President; Netanyahu Faces Mounting Pressure To Accept Ceasefire Plan; Nairobi Residents Impacted By Flood Damage One Month Later; Impact Of Legal Troubles On Trump's Candidacy. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired June 03, 2024 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Abu Dhabi, this is CONNECT THE WORLD.
ELENI GIOKOS, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Welcome to our second hour of CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Eleni Giokos, live in Abu Dhabi.
Mexico makes history electing its first female president, a landmark achievement in a country known for its patriarchal culture.
U.S. President Joe Biden, says there's a deal on the table for Israel and Hamas to achieve a ceasefire and the return of hostages. And he said it's
high-time, the war and the suffering ends. But Israel's prime minister says he has not agreed to the proposal.
Dr. Anthony Fauci the face of America's COVID-19 response is testifying at a hearing this hour about the policies he enacted, setting up a showdown
with Republicans who have long villainized him for his handling of the pandemic.
Welcome to the show, and we begin right here in the Middle East, to where there are new tensions of the U.S. President Joe Biden's push for a quick
end to the war in Gaza.
The Israeli prime minister says claims made by the United States that Israel has agreed to propose ceasefire are, "not true".
On Friday, U.S. President Joe Biden outlined a three-phase Israeli proposal that would combine the release of hostages with a full ceasefire. But a
spokesperson for Benjamin Netanyahu says he only presented a partial version, and that there will be no ceasefire until all of Israel's demands
have been met.
CNN's Jeremy Diamond is in Jerusalem for us. We've got Arlette Saenz, standing by at the White House.
Jeremy, I'd like to start off with you. I mean, big question here is, Israeli prime minister coming out and saying that they have not accepted
the deal that -- the news that they have responded to the U.S.'s proposal are just not true.
I want you to give me a sense of where Benjamin Netanyahu and his government stand right now, because we know there were very carefully
worded statements over the weekend, and we really didn't know what to expect on where to from here.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Eleni, President Biden's speech on Fridays, forcing the Israeli prime minister to confront a choice that he
has avoided having to make for months now. And that is a choice between the survival of his governments and accepting a ceasefire proposal, the one
that is currently on the table.
And what we're witnessing the prime minister doing over the course of the last few days, since President Biden speech is an attempt to, first of all,
try and avoid having to make that choice. And he's doing so by trying to convince the far-right members of his government who are threatening to
bolt from this governing coalition and collapse the government if this deal goes through.
He is trying to convince them that this deal is not as bad as what they may think. That, in this deal, he hasn't actually agreed yet to a permanent
ceasefire. And that is true to a certain extent. And I think that's the context through which we should be viewing the prime minister's claims here
that Israel has, "not agreed to a ceasefire without our conditions being met."
He is talking about the fact that in this deal, in order to get to that second phase of the deal, one that would have a permanent ceasefire, there
would have to be negotiations where Israel's conditions would have to be met.
And so, he is trying to kind of spin this both ways, on the one hand, showing the Americans that he has gone further than he ever has before,
with a ceasefire proposal that significantly closes the gaps with Hamas's demands.
But at the same time, he is -- he is trying to maintain some wiggle room here on the notion of getting to a permanent ceasefire in order to try and
retain the support of his right-wing governing partners.
But ultimately, what seems to be happening so far, is that those efforts to convince those right-wing governing partners that this is not the deal that
the President Biden portrayed on Friday, have so far fallen flat.
And so, if Hamas does indeed accept the ceasefire proposal from Israel, the Israeli prime minister is going to have to make a choice between
maintaining his governing coalition, keeping that governing coalition alive and staying in power, or accepting this proposal, which his own governments
actually put forward here.
[10:05:01]
But ultimately, he may not have to. And he may not have to because, for now, we don't yet have Hamas's response to this latest Israeli ceasefire
proposal. They said in a statement on Friday that they viewed President Biden's remarks about that Israeli proposal, "positively", but we have yet
to actually get an official response from Hamas.
And the key question here will be that Hamas has been demanding that Israel agree upfront that it will enter a permanent ceasefire in the second phase
of this agreement, this Israeli proposal doesn't do that. It leaves that commitment up until negotiations during the first phase of this deal.
And so, the key question is, will this be enough for Hamas? Or will they reject this latest proposal and save the Israeli prime minister at the same
time from actually making that binary choice that I just described. Eleni?
GIOKOS: And as you say, very important point, buying some time here, Jeremy.
I want to bring in Arlette. Arlette, you know, President Biden has also said, you know, pursuing an indefinite war will not bring the hostages
home, urging Israeli leaders also urging Hamas to take a look at this proposal very seriously.
What is likely to be the U.S.'s response now that we've heard Netanyahu saying that the claims that they accepted this proposal are just simply not
true.
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, we are still waiting to hear, Eleni, from the White House, specifically, to Israeli prime
minister's -- Benjamin Netanyahu's latest claim that they had not agreed to some elements of this proposal.
But as President Biden unveiled it, as White House spokespeople were speaking about this over the weekend, they stressed that this was an
Israeli proposal that was put forward to Hamas
Now, one thing that the White House has said they are still waiting for Hamas to answer -- respond to this proposal. And just yesterday, the White
House spokesperson -- National Security Council spokesperson, John Kirby, said that it is the expectation that if Hamas agrees that Israel would also
agree as it was a proposal that they had also put forward.
But in his remarks on Friday, as he called for this war between Israel and Hamas to end, President Biden also acknowledged the possibility that a
potential deal could be derailed. He said that he is aware that there could be divisions within Israel -- divisions within the governing coalition
about this potential proposal. And that is something that we saw a play out within Netanyahu's coalition, just over the weekend.
Now, the White House and President Biden have been trying to argue that so far, that Hamas's abilities in -- to conduct another large-scale attack
like the one that occurred on October 7th had been degraded.
And so, that is part of the reason that they believe that Israel should move forward with this proposal to bring the hostages home, to eventually
get to a ceasefire. But the White House, of course, acknowledges that there are still negotiations that need to continue.
But all of this comes as there has been international pressure, but also domestic pressure here at home on President Biden, as many have expressed
frustration with his own handling and approach to this conflict between Israel and Hamas.
And so, the president on Friday are really trying to take the steps to show that he wants this war to end as soon as possible. The question is, whether
the U.S. will be able to get Israel on board whether negotiators will be able to get Hamas on board to agree to elements of this proposal to bring
the hostages home and put an end to the fighting.
GIOKOS: All right. Arlette Saenz, Jeremy Diamond, thank you so much.
Well, history is being made right now in Mexico, which is preparing for the first female president, it's 200-year history. This is a significant day.
The official tally counted so far confirms that Claudia Sheinbaum has won Sunday's massive general election.
Sheinbaum is the former mayor of Mexico City, as well as being a climate scientist. She is already being congratulated by Mexico's outgoing
presidents, along with leaders across Latin America.
Gustavo Valdez is in Mexico City for us. Gustavo, great to see you. Very historic. I mean, landslide victory for Claudia Sheinbaum.
Give us a sense of voter turnouts, and also, what was really significant about her campaign that differentiated her from other candidates?
GUSTAVO VALDES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, given that Mexico's knew that there were two top contenders, two female contenders, they knew they were
going to have a woman president for the next six years. So, they focused on the issues, and given the large margin of victory, it seemed like Mexicans
were ready to be led by a woman.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
VALDES (voice over): Claudia Sheinbaum has made history as the first woman to be the next president of Mexico. The 61-year-old handedly defeated her
two opponents with at least 58 percent of the vote, according to the National Electoral Institute.
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CALUDIA SHEINBAUM, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF MEXICO (through translator): Our duty is and always will be to look after each Mexican without distinctions,
although, many Mexican women and Mexican men don't agree don't agree fully with our project, we will walk in peace and harmony to build a fairer and
more prosperous Mexico.
VALDES (voice over): Besides being the first woman set to become president, she would be the first one of Jewish ancestry. Her grandparents migrated
from Eastern Europe, fleeing Nazi persecution. Although, she rarely mentioned her religious background.
Her parents were leftist, according to a biography by journalist Arturo Cano, in which Sheinbaum, says that she grew up talking about politics, all
day with her parents.
But her first career is academia. She has a Ph.D. in environmental engineering, focused in renewable energy and climate change. Her
introduction to politics happened in 2000, when she became Mexico City's environmental minister under the head of government, Andres Manuel Lopez
Obrador.
She became part of his team during his three presidential campaigns, and in 2018, when he won the presidency, she was elected chief of government of
Mexico City. She pledged to continue the policies of Lopez Obrador, with a five-point plan: increase public safety, free public education, fight
poverty through social programs and a higher minimum wage, better regulation of water resources, and transition to renewable energies.
On foreign affairs, she has pledged to protect Mexico sovereignty, and while recognizing the importance of their relationship with the United
States, she wants to focus on growing ties with Central and South American nation.
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VALDES (on camera): Now, we're going to see what kind of president she is going to be. Internally, her biggest challenge is going to be dealing with
the insecurity with the violence that the country has seen in the past few years. Internationally, is going to be her relationship with the United
States, their main partner, their neighbor, and what she's going to do on migration, drug trafficking, and trade in the next six years.
GIOKOS: Right. Gustavo Valdes, thank you so much. Good to see you.
Well, while Sheinbaum has indeed broken the glass ceiling, even bigger challenge lies ahead, particularly, in addressing the horrendous political
violence that overshadowed the run-up to this very election.
For more on these issues, let's bring in Gema Kloppe-Santamaria, associate professor of history and international affairs for Latin America at George
Washington University.
Really good to see you on this historic day. You know, we were just listening to Gustavo there and she was -- he was he saying that Mexico is
ready to be led by a woman. If you dig in deeper, you see very high femicide rates in Mexico, you know, major issues on the security funds as
well. She's got a lot of challenges.
But there's something about her campaign that clearly got her to get this landslide victory. I want you to take me through why she is just this
figure that clearly is so revered to take on this mega role.
GEMA KLOPPE-SANTAMARIA, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF HISTORY AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS FOR LATIN AMERICA: Yes, of course. I mean, I will begin by saying
that is -- that today is a great day for Mexican democracy. In many ways, I mean, first of all, like having a woman president, like a woman in power
really reflects decades of cultural, political, and social transformations in Mexico, led by the women's movement by feminists that have been pushing
for the participation of women in power.
And secondly, it's a -- it's a -- it's a huge success, because all the opposition parties immediately recognize her victory. Now, also, I think we
should all celebrate that Mexican democracy is looking so well. I mean, it's looking so healthy. Then, I would say that, I mean, the fact that she
won a -- with close to 60 percent of the popular vote, I mean, really reflects the strength of the political project that she represents.
We must not forget that Lopez Obrador has one of the highest approval rates across the Americas as a -- as a president.
His political project has been supported by around 70 percent of people that continue to believe in that political project, and Claudia Sheinbaum,
you know, without a -- without denying that she is her own persona, that she has her own agenda.
And undoubtedly, the great support that she has also reflects the popularity of the fourth transformation, no, the (INAUDIBLE) -- this
political project that Lopez Obrador has represented. And she has promised a continuity in many, many instances.
GIOKOS: Yes, exactly. And also, specifically on What we see on the social front. Right?
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But importantly as well, and this is one thing that she is going to have to deal with, is security challenges, dealing with the cartels, dismantling
organized crime. What kind of strategy is everyone expecting from her? Is it still going to be hugs, you know, versus bullets? Because that is what
the Morena Party was actually running on. Is she going to be building momentum on the strategy?
KLOPPE-SANTAMARIA: Yes, I mean, I would say that, that slogan has created a lot of confusion. I mean, the security strategy of Lopez Obrador has indeed
included a lot of prevention programs, and poverty alleviation programs, including, like support for, you know, like education, like a support for a
cash transfer for vulnerable groups. So, there has been indeed a lot of focus on prevention, that would be the hawks.
But then, I would say that there is being also a lot of focus on the use of the military for public security functions. So, so Mexico has a militarized
a look since 2007, but increasingly saw on the Lopez Obrador's government.
And Claudia Sheinbaum has promised that she will continue with that project of militarizing public security, also, continue with the participation of
the military in other functions, as she has also pledged to strengthen the National Guard. So, I would say that it is sort of like complex scenario,
because this sort of like a -- on the one hand prevention.
But on the other hand, heavy use of the military for public security functions is really concerning for human rights organizations' that have
pointed out how the crisis of disappearances, femicides, violence against girls and women has only increase in the context of the use of the
military.
GIOKOS: And this, of course, was one of the most deadly election cycles with so many candidates and applicants being killed, because cartels were
trying to influence those coming into power. So, that that context is really important.
I'm just curious in terms of, you know, the relationship in foreign policy with the United States, they share many issues on the security front, we
know the us wanting to secure their border. Give me a sense of what will happen on that front. Because this relationship regarding -- you know,
depending on what happens in the US election cycle, will be one of the most important for her.
KLOPPE-SANTAMARIA: Yes, for sure. I mean, I would say that -- I mean, we will have the fuller picture, once we know the results a on behalf of the
United States and in the U.S. election.
But we might expect, again, a lot of continuity in regards to U.S. Mexico security cooperation to what we saw in this term.
So, on the one hand, there's a lot of frustration in the United States, especially the DEA felt that Mexico wasn't sharing information, there
wasn't so much intelligence sharing, and again, this kind of like mixed messaging of hawks and no bullet didn't really help.
On the other hand, we saw a lot of cooperation in the migration agenda, which has been securitized, of course, with the participation of the
National Guard in securing the border. I mean, stopping undocumented migration.
We will see still a lot of tension, especially because fentanyl and Fentanyl crisis is such a huge concern for the United States government.
And the US government has failed that Mexico hasn't done enough to curb the activities of cartels. And Mexico, on the other hand, will continue to push
a -- for the issue of arms trafficking, where it feels that the United States hasn't done enough in terms of stopping the flow of arms to Mexico.
So, I would say that it's an agenda that will come with a lot of challenges on the security agenda. But I think on trade on the economy, I think we see
there a very healthy relation that won't be shaped even if a -- regardless of who comes to power in the United States.
I think that the bilateral relation is very healthy. In terms of the economy. I would say that even in migration, so, I think security is
perhaps the greatest challenge.
GIOKOS: All right. Gema Kloppe-Santamaria, great to have you with us. Thank you so much.
Well, you're watching CONNECT THE WORLD, live today from Abu Dhabi. And still ahead, a historic trial is underway in the United States for the
first time ever. A child of a sitting U.S. president is in a courtroom charged with a federal crime.
Plus, the former U.S. chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci, is it to return to Capitol Hill to testify on the COVID-19 response. Details on that
just ahead.
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GIOKOS: Jury selection is underway this hour in the Hunter Biden gun case. it's the first time in history the child of its sitting U.S. president is
standing trial. Hunter Biden is accused of making false statements on a form to purchase a firearm and then, illegally owning that gun. The trial
happening after a plea agreement in the case fell apart last summer.
U.S. First Lady Jill Biden is in the courtroom today, and President Joe Biden issued a statement saying he and his wife are proud of the man,
Hunter Biden is today.
Evan Perez is outside the courthouse in Wilmington, Delaware. Evan, tell us what we can expect today. Of course it's jury selection. So, really
significant ahead of what will be the trial.
EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, absolutely. This is a critical part of this. The -- we have about 250 prospective jurors inside
the court -- courthouse right now. Judge Maryellen Noreika is going through questions, asking some of the jurors about some of their political
activities. There was a woman who said that she worked or volunteered for the -- for the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2008.
She was being asked whether she could be impartial. She says I don't see any relation between the politics and said the judge is -- that she told
the judge that she could be fair. Again, that's a part of the standard proceeding her for these trials.
As you pointed out, Jill Biden, the first lady is sitting inside the courtroom with Hunter Biden, trying to show some support for him. This is a
case that we expect -- that we expect jury selection to take perhaps through the day, but move very, very quickly, and a trial could take a week
or a little bit more than that. And of course, the politics of all of this loom very large.
This is a case that part of an investigation that has been going on since 2018. And Republicans have tried to argue that what Hunter Biden was
involved in, including especially his business dealings have an implication on President Biden. Of course, we are a few months away from the
presidential election.
A lot of this is also very, very personal. We're going to hear a lot about Hunter Biden's struggles with drug addiction, something that he has written
about in his memoir, Prosecutors are going to use that memoir, and his admissions of using drugs around this time that he bought up this gun
against him.
They are going to use witnesses -- three women that he was involved with. They are going to use witness statements from them, up again about him
using drugs. They are going to use text messages from the now infamous Hunter Biden laptop again, against him.
The odds are very, very much against Hunter Biden. We expect his defense to center on the idea that when he bought the gun in 2018, that he wasn't
using drugs that particular day. He owned this gun for only about 11 days. And so, that's what this case centers on.
Back to you.
GIOKOS: Evan Perez, thank you for that update.
Well, Dr. Anthony Fauci is back on Capitol Hill today, testifying in front of a House subcommittee.
[10:25:03]
The Republican-lead hearing is investigating the U.S. COVID-19 response and its policies. It's the first time Dr. Fauci has testified, since he retired
at the end of 2022.
As you can see live pictures coming through from Capitol Hill right now. Well, the hearing began with harsh words for Dr. Fauci by the Republican
chairman of the subcommittee.
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REP. BRAD WENSTRUP (R-OH): Why did you allow your office to be unaccountable to the American people? You were the highest paid person in
the government. This makes you more accountable to the people, not less.
Dr. Fauci, whether intentional or not, you became so powerful that any disagreements the public had with you were forbidden and censored on social
and most legacy media time and time again. This is why so many Americans became so angry, because this was fundamentally un-American.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: Well, joining us now to discuss this further is CNN medical correspondent Meg Tirrell. Of course, Anthony Fauci in that hearing,
testifying today.
I guess what we're expecting is really harsh questions on mask mandates on social distancing, there were so many things that were put in place over
the period of COVID-19 at the height of the pandemic.
Give me a sense of what you are expecting to hear today. Some of the tough questions that Anthony Fauci will have to answer.
MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've gotten a bit of a preview, because the Republican staffers for this committee put out a memo
based on two days of closed-door testimony that Dr. Fauci gave back in January.
So, they just released those transcripts ahead of the hearing today. And their own memo about it really focused in on a couple topics. The first and
probably the thing that's going to dominate today are the origins of COVID.
The debate over whether this was a natural spillover event from an animal, which many scientists believe or if this was a potential leak from a lab or
something even more nefarious, as many others are contending.
There is a debate going on over that, and we are expecting that to be a majority of what is question for Dr. Fauci today. We also have seen from
that memo that Republicans are focused on COVID-era policies.
Mask mandates, social distancing, vaccine mandates, travel restrictions and things like that. Now, Dr. Fauci said in that testimony to the Republican
staffers that he believed that there is important work to be done to look back at the impacts of those things. Specifically, things like vaccine
mandates, to see what the impacts of those have been on vaccine hesitancy and acceptance, and things like that.
However, a lot of people I've talked with, about the expectations for this hearing today are not expecting a lot of scientific revelations and real
good faith examinations of the beginning of the pandemic.
Instead, they are expecting a lot of political posturing. We heard from Democrats ahead of this hearing this morning, focused on one of the main
issues we're going to hear about today, which is Dr. Fauci's oversight of a group called, EcoHealth Alliance, which was involved in some controversial
research, including in Wuhan, China. Here's what Democrats said leading into this hearing this morning.
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REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): This investigation of Dr. Fauci shows that he is an honorable public servant, committed to public health, and he is not a
comic book supervillain.
He did not fund research to create the COVID-19 pandemic. He did not lie to Congress about gain-of-function research in Wuhan, and he did not organize
a lab leak suppression campaign to cover his tracks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TIRRELL: So, while a lot of people do really think that a greater examination of the earliest days of the pandemic is needed, I'm not sure
that anybody is expecting really to get that today.
GIOKOS: Yes. All right. Meg Tirrell, thank you so much.
Well, the world is standing by to see if Israel and Hamas will agree to the latest proposed peace plan Benjamin Netanyahu maintains the wall will only
end once Hamas is eliminated, but is that realistic? We'll discuss right after this short break. Stay with CNN.
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GIOKOS: Welcome back to CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Eleni Giokos in Abu Dhabi. Well, just in the last few hours, the Israeli government seems to have
added to the confusion over the peace proposal laid out by U.S. President Joe Biden last Friday. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told members of
the Knesset it was not true that Israel had accepted the deal.
And his spokesperson told journalists, the outline presented was only a partial version. The Prime Minister's Office underscored it would not agree
to any plan. And so, Gaza no longer posed a threat to Israel and Hamas' military capabilities have been eradicated. Now this war has been going on
for eight months now. But the goal looks increasingly less achievable. So how will this end and how will the Israeli Prime Minister move ahead with
his latest ceasefire proposal?
My next guest wrote on X recently, and I quote. "With the end of the Sabbath, Ben Gvir and Smotrich come out with clear cut threat to leave
government if ceasefire deal goes through. But that threat can only be taken as seriously as the likelihood of Netanyahu actually going ahead with
the deal.
Mairav Zonszein is a senior Israel analyst at the International Crisis Group and she joins me now live from Tel Aviv. Mairav, great to have you
with us. Thanks so much for joining me. And, you know, you've just heard in the last hour or so, the confusion is increasing in terms of where Israel
stands with this ceasefire proposal from President Biden saying that the claim that Israel has agreed to it is not true, and that only the partial
proposal was actually revealed. What do you make of Israel's response to President Biden's proposal on the ceasefire?
MAIRAV ZONSZEIN, SENIOR ISRAEL ANALYST, INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP: Well, first of all, you have to wonder which Israeli response because there's a
lot of people speaking, right. There's not just Netanyahu, there's the far right, there's Netanyahu aides. There's all kinds of people. But I think,
you know, I think the bottom line here is that Netanyahu is under more and more pressure.
And he's trying to hedge at this point. He has been clear that he's not going to go for a permanent ceasefire. He's not going to say it explicitly.
So now he's trying to kind of argue that in order to, you know, appease both is some Israeli public opinion, and Biden, you know, and pretty much
everybody at this point and say, we're going to enter -- if we enter a phase, it will still meet our goals of removing Hamas from power.
Nobody really understands what that means. But, you know, potentially, that means that he would then try and negotiate for a removal of Hamas from
power during the first phase of the negotiation or he would achieve it, you know, when he thinks or tries to, you know, claim through military force,
that he could always go back to the fight. You know, so that's kind of how he's trying to -- but I don't -- there's no real coherent answer at this
point. Yes.
GIOKOS: Yes. There isn't. I mean, there's a lot of confusion, isn't there? I mean, is the crux of this Netanyahu survival but also fissures within his
government have been revealed if you think about the pro and anti-deal coalition partners threatening to leave government and of course that puts
Netanyahu in even more difficult position.
[10:35:12]
ZONSZEIN: Yes. Well, none of this is really new. I mean, Hamas' positioned to end the war has been consistent throughout Netanyahu supposition that
he's going to go to a total victory and the fire rights threat to leave the government. These have all been the case. But as the war goes on, maybe
some people -- maybe the U.S. which is effectively still given Israel all the backing it needs, maybe hoped that there would have been some progress.
Israel hasn't been able to achieve progress. And I think Biden was coming out and saying, look, you're not going to get to a better place through
military force. And his time is up as far as his election campaign. So, he wants to put a stop to this now. And the thing is that there are elements
within the Netanyahu War Cabinet who are also very much I think, at a point where they realize that they need to prioritize the hostages, that they
just don't have something better at this point.
There's all kinds of factors that go into it, including, you know, the military being over -- overwhelmed, overstretched. There's, you know, a war
going on in the north with Hezbollah in Lebanon. This is another reason why for many people, a ceasefire is necessary now to get a break. But at the
same time, it's important to stress that Israelis and the defense establishment as a whole are still committed to removing Hamas from power
and they want to continue with that threat. That's -- they're just kind of in a desperate situation at this point but --
GIOKOS: And whether that goal is achievable because even President Biden said that Netanyahu's often repeated goal of total victory was an
unidentified notion that Israel's offensive had already left Hamas, unable launch another October 7th attack. So, this indefinite war is basically not
viable. Do you think that Benjamin Netanyahu can eradicate Hamas?
ZONSZEIN: No, I don't think so. And I, you know, I think that the two main reasons for that is one, that it's very difficult for a military to go into
a densely populated area like Gaza and be able to actually eradicate a group that is embedded in society for so long. Not to mention the fact
that, you know, without addressing the core issues of occupation, in denial of Palestinian self-determination and all the other issues that we know,
are at the heart of the Israeli Palestinian conflict, he could eradicate Hamas, and it would still wouldn't solve the ongoing crisis and the ongoing
conflict for which Israel is not held accountable.
And that's the crux of the issue. But there's also the political domestic issue that Netanyahu is interested in continuing to remain in power. And he
can, you know -- and everybody knows that the war as far as the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians is not going to be solved tomorrow and
that Israel is going to continue to use military force when it feels like it needs to. So, the war is not going to end anytime soon.
It's almost become a cemented issue. But for him to stay in power, he's not willing to say that the war is over. So that's what we know.
GIOKOS: Yes. I mean, you also said something that really struck me. You said you're pessimistic about the option of Hamas agreeing to a deal that
doesn't have a permanent ceasefire baked into it. And when I think about, you know, what Netanyahu wants to continue the one until Hamas is
eradicated, it sounds like these are very two different ways of looking at an issue where even President Biden and says it's time -- a time for a
ceasefire but the two sides just don't seem to see eye to eye right now.
So, how do you think this is going to play out in the next few weeks as pressure is added on to Netanyahu and his government?
ZONSZEIN: Well, I mean, it's hard to predict, I'm not very optimistic about the deal going through. I think Netanyahu is a master at buying time and
delaying and hedging and speaking out of two sides of his mouth, and the U.S. administration unfortunately, has decided not to really put pressure
put effective pressure or withhold the resources with which Israel can wage this war.
So, unfortunately, it could go on like this for quite a long time. But there are inflection points where, you know, some members of the war
cabinet will leave the coalition. The public in Israel is losing its patience. It's in quite despair, you know, you have a multi front war
happening. So, at some point, something has to give. I don't know what that will be. But it, you know, it's possible that there will be the beginnings
of a deal they could fall through quickly or not, it's really hard to tell.
But unfortunately, what we've seen is that every time we get to a point where it seems like things can't get worse, they do and they continue and
nobody's really able to put a stop to it. So, you know, hopefully, the both sides will realize that at this point, there's really nothing more to gain
on a whole from continuing and that they should take a break and there are interests that would serve both sides in getting a break. But again,
unfortunately, the leaders on both sides have just not gotten to that point.
GIOKOS: All right. Mairav Zonszein, thank you so much for your insights. Good to have you on the show.
Having been an honor and one of the largest gatherings of airline industry executives is currently meeting in Dubai.
[10:40:03]
CNN's Richard Quest is there and we'll have a live report for us coming up next.
And Nairobi residents still facing flooding a month after record breaking storms. We'll bring you an update from the ground.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GIOKOS: Now one of the largest meetings for airline industry executives is currently underway in Dubai. And it's the focus of today's Market Watch.
The International Air Transport Association or IATA meeting is happening in Dubai. Its 80th Annual General Meeting at the World Air Transport summit.
The event is being held here in the United Arab Emirates for the first time and hosted by Emirates Airlines.
The event is hosting more than 1500 participants, including industry leaders and governments. Our Richard Quest spoke to the director general of
IATA earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIE WALSH, IATA DIRECTOR GENERAL: It's great to see all parts of the industry at a global level back in profitability. But it's still a very
small level of profit. Now $30 billion U.S. is a huge figure. But when you express it in margin terms, a margin of 3.1 percent, it's still a very
small margin.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: And Richard Quest is now live from the conference in Dubai. Richard, welcome to the UAE. Good to -- good to see you. I know you've been
speaking to so many CEOs. What's on the mind of aviation leaders right now? Is a turbulence? Is it safety? Is it aviation fuel? What's going on?
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Safe? Well, safety is always number one and is on the agenda. But there's not -- but because all
airlines put that as number one. That's not really the area that you discuss it. As IATA and the fascinating part of IATA, the Annual General
Meeting is all the airline CEOs come here. You can guarantee that the top names in aviation will attend. And that gives you the significance of in a
sense of proportion.
And so, they're discussing here things like say a sustainable aviation fuel, sustainability, how to reach net zero by 2030, 2050. All the issues
that are so significant, but here's the interesting part. They are doing this at a time when the airlines are making good money. And I spoke to Sir
Tim Clark, the president of Emirates, which actually is making billions of dollars and is performing extremely well. And so, Tim was very clear, these
are good times for airlines.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIM CLARK, PRESIDENT, EMIRATES: Yes. I -- I'm beginning to believe that we will have a five-year hiatus from today. So will Boeing be able to recover
its ramp up rates and everything else? Get the supply chain in order to meet the demand from the existing customers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: So then, of course, you have the issues that they're talking about, one of which is will Boeing be able to deliver planes? But the
contradictory point, of course, is that the airlines are making money regardless of the constriction in demand at the moment. And I think what's
significant about this year's IATA, Eleni, compared to previous years is that there is a path to sustainability.
[10:45:23]
The airlines are making money. And I guess if I was to put it in crude terms, it's all theirs to screw it up.
GIOKOS: All right, Richard. And it's so good to have you in town asking the tough questions. I look forward to more of your contents and interviews out
of IATA. Thank you, sir. Richard Quest for us there.
Well, it has been more than one month since devastating flooding submerged Kenya's largest city and some areas across Nairobi are still underwater.
CNN's Larry Madowo shows us the aftermath of those floods in two Nairobi neighborhoods, one rich and one poor.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is not a river. This is a family's courtyard in Ronda. One of Nairobi's wealthiest suburbs. More
than a month after record rains and floods hit Kenya, their home is still submerged. Jonathan Das (ph) says they haven't even started quantifying how
much his family is lost, nothing is left untouched. After two meters of floodwaters moved in.
MADOWO (on camera): There's are rally cars.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of people were moving into the city. We've got people coming from abroad who want to live in these, you know, luxurious
leafy areas. And there's a lot of demand for that. At the same time we're not moving fast enough to be able to plan properly and understand what
needs to be done to accommodate all these people coming in.
MADOWO (on camera): Ronda has a reputation for being very well planned. Because it's a diplomatic quarter. The U.N. is here. The U.S. Embassy is
here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know what to say, Larry. It's not -- it's not well planned. If it was well planned, we wouldn't be sitting here in a
boat.
MADOWO (voice-over): All this water in Ronda has nowhere to go. Because the drainage of this water pan is blocked. Residents blame it on corruption and
impunity.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That is someone who is better back feeling slowly but surely. So, the dam is becoming smaller and smaller and there is not an
outlet to send the water that arrive to somewhere else.
MADOWO (voice-over): Shan Blasky (ph) can only navigate his backyard with a paddle board. A far cry from the playground in garden it was before the
rains.
MADOWO (on camera): Is that fish here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is actually quite a bit. This is practically a fish farm at the moment.
MADOWO (on camera): Did you always have catch fish before?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nope, nope. This is a fairly new perk of living on Lake Ronda.
MADOWO (voice-over): Some of the Ronda residents whose homes remain underwater, have lived here for decades without drainage issues until now.
MADOWO (on camera): Do you believe this is a manmade disaster?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's -- we've had a lot of rain. But the magnitude of the disaster created by greedy grabbing.
MADOWO (voice-over): Across town from Ronda in Nairobi's oldest slum Mathare, bulldozers have brought down everything standing within 30 meters
of a river. Many had just 24 hours notice.
MADOWO (on camera): This used to be somebody's house. In fact, I stood on top of this exact same house in late April, after some of the worst
flooding Kenya has seen claimed some lives in this informal settlement. The government then ordered them out, forcefully evicted thousands of families
from this area and demolish their homes.
MADOWO (voice-over): Nairobi's poorest have suffered the most from the flooding, and the evictions that have left so many homeless.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What we have seen is that the rich are enjoying the rights but as the poor we are fighting to enjoy the rights that is supposed
to be our rights, which is not fair.
MADOWO (voice-over): The Kenyan government maintains that the mandatory evacuations were for the sake of public safety after flooding killed more
than 300 people.
Larry Madowo, CNN, Nairobi
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GIOKOS: And still to come. What Americans are saying about Donald Trump's criminal conviction and how it could affect his bid for president.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:50:48]
GIOKOS: At pivotal moment in American history. Former U.S. President Donald Trump is now a convicted felon. The latest polling reveals a majority of
Americans agree with hush money trial verdicts. 57 percent say the jury in New York City reached the right decision finding Trump guilty. But so far,
the verdict has made little impact on Americans views of Trump as a presidential candidate.
A new ABC/Ipsos poll suggests 31 percent regard Trump favorably with around 32 percent saying the same for President Biden. The two candidates will
face off for the first time in a CNN debate on June 27th, two weeks before Trump's sentencing. And three weeks before the Republican National
Convention.
I want to bring in CNN's Senior Data Reporter Harry Enten who always keep - - is keeping a close watch on the polling and the numbers. He joins us from New York to break everything down. Harry, great to see you. Could you break
it down for us? What do Americans think of the verdict? Number one, and then whether that affects them in terms of how they will vote?
HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Yes. You know, we take a look at that horse race. And I think it, you know, gives you a pretty good
understanding that at this particular point, not a lot of minds were changed by the verdict that came down last Thursday. We did not see massive
movement in the polling. And what essentially what we were looking at prior to the verdict coming down, we saw, you know, a race that was very tight
between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
You can see it there tie in the Reuters/Ipsos poll. There was no clear leader, look at where we are post-conviction. It's Joe Biden by two. But
that is movement within the margin. Or the one thing I will note, though, is this race is so close that if we can see that two-point movement, sort
of seen across a number of polls and not just one that could be significant. This is still early days yet. This is just one poll.
We'll have to wait and see what happens. But if you were expecting Joe Biden to jump out to a 10-point lead, or Donald Trump to jump out to a 10-
point lead after this verdict, that simply put not happening. And I think the reason for that is, you know, this was an America -- a lot of Americans
minds, basically sort of what they expected, right? So, you know, you mentioned that, you know, did the jury come to the right verdict?
And the majority of Americans said, in fact that they felt that the jury did come to the right verdict. But here's the thing. Beforehand, 56 percent
of Americans thought that Donald Trump was guilty. And then 57 percent thought that the jury made the right verdict. So there really wasn't much
changing of minds. A lot of voters are already taking into account what they thought would be the right decision.
The jury came to what Americans thought would be the right decision. And there really wasn't much that changed in terms of the voters' thoughts on
it. Of course, Donald Trump has been going after the jury verdict has been going after the D.A. here in New York County and Alvin Bragg saying, you
know, the whole thing was a sham, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. The question is that, that really breakthrough with the American
people.
And what we see, in fact, was that it did not really break through with the American people, because essentially we had a nice poll that came out from
Ipsos that essentially as OK, you know, do you think that the case that was brought about was mainly about enforcing laws fairly to uphold the rule of
law and we see that got the majority answer 52 percent. 40 -- only 46 percent of Americans believe that the case was mainly politically motivated
to hurt Donald Trump.
So, his messaging, it may be breaking through with Republicans to vote majority of which 87 percent thought that this case was mainly about being
politically motivated to hurt Donald Trump. But when it came to Americans overall, the fact is, this was mainly in line with what they thought was
going to happen, mainly in line with what they thought was going to happen. And there really wasn't a lot of movement either way, which of course,
basically lines up with what we've seen throughout this presidential race which is steady as she goes.
Nobody really likes either major party candidates. And as we go forward to June, July, August, September, October, November, a lot of Americans are
not going to be very happy with what's going on. But guess what? They're going to have to deal with it.
GIOKOS: I tell you -- look, it's very tight margins, as you say the polling I guess suggests that.
[10:55:003]
But Donald Trump has a very busy calendar, especially on the legal front. What -- I mean, could you give me a sense of how the numbers tend to shift
when there's some kind of decision or when he goes to trial, when he appears in court? Does that tend to make a significant difference in the
polls?
ENTEN: Not really. Not really. Not with -- at least the middle part of the electorate that truly matters, right? Most of the people who are undecided
in this race are not paying close attention to these trials. The people who are -- the base of the Democratic Party and the base of the Republican
Party. And that's part of the reason why Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee raised upwards of $70 million in the 48 hours post the
conviction in New York City.
But the fact is, both major party candidates are going to have enough money to compete in this election. Compete going down the line and the real
question is going to be those, you know, five, 10 percent of undecided voters. What's ultimately going to sway them? When are they going to
ultimately tune into this campaign? You mentioned that debate coming up here on CNN at the end of the month.
I think that could be one potential thing that could shift things. Of course, we're just going to have to wait and see because at this point,
nothing seems to shift anything.
GIOKOS: That's absolutely true. Harry Enten. Thank you so much. CNN debate happening of course on the 27th of June and that is a couple of weeks
before the actual sentencing on the hush money trial. So, we'll be keeping a very close watch on that. Harry Enten, always good to speak to you, sir.
All right. That's it for CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Eleni Giokos in Abu Dhabi. Stay with CNN. NEWSROOM is up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
