And welcome
back to a special edition of OUTFRONT
live from Israel.
We've got breaking news.
We are now learning
that the death toll from the Hamas
attacks on Israel has gone up
significantly.
That number is now at least 1200
people, according
to an Israeli public broadcaster.
And we have been saying about a thousand.
So that
number going up by at least 200 here.
And it comes as as questions grow about
who was behind the attack.
And today,
Vladimir Putin had a very tepid response
to Hamas's attack,
which killed at least
two Russian citizens.
Fred Pleitgen is OUTFRONT.
But it was a double foot high
after hundreds of Israelis
were slaughtered by Hamas near Gaza.
Condemnation and condolence is poured
in from around the world,
but not from Russian leader
Vladimir Putin.
Even now, in his first comments,
instead of empathy,
Putin blasting the U.S.
yet again.
This is a clear
example of the failure
of the United States
policy in the Middle East,
which tried to monopolize
any settlement
between Israelis and Palestinians.
She also visited
Nero in
Kiev, the Kremlin controlled TV following
suit, mocking both America
and Israel
for allegedly being caught off
guard by Hamas's attack.
Yes, not no.
Mozart's VI
is the meaning of the contrast
with Mozart
and its famous counterintelligence,
as well as the U.S.
and its CIA
slept through Hamas's invasion.
It's the biggest Israeli failure
in security since 1973.
Russia has long been allied with Israel's
staunchest adversaries
and Hamas's
most important backers
bombing Syrian rebels
in support of pro Iranian fighters
battling on the side of Syrian
President Bashar
al-Assad during Syria's civil war.
But Russia also maintained strong ties
and security arrangements with Israel.
Putin meeting
Israel's prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu on many occasions.
We in no way underestimate
the importance
of measures that would ensure
very strong
security of the state of Israel.
But since Putin launched his full scale
war against Ukraine,
Tehran has become a key ally for Moscow
at Israel's expense,
fostering economic and military ties
with Iran.
While
Tehran provides the Russian army
with scores of showerhead drones.
The Russians used to hit Ukrainian cities
and infrastructure, Kiev says,
even though Tehran denies it.
Ukraine's president
Vladimir Zelensky, claiming Moscow's
allegiance in the Middle East
has shifted towards Tehran.
But when we are crises
Kiev propagandists,
we see how Russian
propagandists are gloating.
We witness how Moscow's
Iranian allies
openly lend support
to those who attacked Israel.
And, Aaron, the Kremlin has denied
Vladimir Lewinsky's allegation
that the Russians are trying
to inflame the situations
between the Israelis
and the Palestinians.
However, the former
chief rabbi of Moscow, who, of course,
fled Russia
about two weeks
after the
full on invasion of Ukraine,
he today
said that the lack of show
of support
of Russia
for Israel is an ominous sign
of deteriorating relations
between those countries.
Erin.
Fred, thank you very much.
And OUTFRONT
now, the former Israeli ambassador
to the United Nations
and Israel's former deputy
defense minister, Danny Danon.
And I really appreciate your time.
Ambassador, so
friends reporting
Russian citizens
are killed in the attack.
Putin silent really for days.
Many Russians live in Israel.
There are very close ties
between those two countries as well.
And yet Putin showing virtually
no sympathy at all for Israel.
Nothing at this point.
Why do you think that is unacceptable?
We have witnessed the whole attack
against Israelis.
1200 people were killed,
butchered in a daylight.
So we expect more than a leader.
We saw President Biden's speech
and we appreciated the speech.
It was very emotional.
It was a remarkable speech,
I have to tell you,
because we are still digesting
those attacks.
It was very hard for us.
The pain is still in our stomach
and we are grateful
for the support coming from the U.S..
For you, hope for more
almost all over the world.
I cannot explain Putin's behavior.
So the Fred Pleitgen Pleitgen pointed out
Russia has long been allied with Iran.
And, of course,
we've seen that intensify.
If I could use that word
with the Ukraine war as well.
Iran is a key backer of Hamas.
Do you think that
if Iran had any advance knowledge
that Russia would have had advanced
knowledge?
I mean,
do you see any ties here
that you're starting to tie together?
Well, Iran is very involved
in what's happening here.
They are funding Hamas and Hezbollah
for years.
They are training Hamas operatives.
We know that Hamas experts
went to Tehran
to get training about explosives
and other things.
Do we know what Iran is involved in?
Maybe. I don't know for sure.
But maybe what we saw in the last
few weeks,
the relationship between Israel
and Saudi Arabia,
it wasn't very good for Iran.
So maybe that is the reason
for the timing,
because it wasn't
until a vocal attack against Israel.
Nobody can find logic
for the timing of this vicious attack.
So how how involved do you think
Iran was?
I mean, the White House has been careful.
They they've sort of said
that there's ambiguous
ties, that Iran is broadly and complicit,
but that there's no intelligence
directly linking
Iran to this actual attack.
Do you buy that? No.
When you fund the Hamas
and you give them a hundred
of billions of dollars every year,
you control Hamas.
So basically, both Hamas and Hezbollah
are proxies of Tehran.
They control them.
And that is why we are sending
a very clear message today
to Hezbollah and to Tehran.
Watch very carefully
what we will happen in Gaza.
Don't mess with us.
We are not playing anymore.
We will not hunt down Hamas.
And if anyone will try to play with us,
either from north
or somewhere else,
it will be under our guns as well.
So as you are massing
IDF forces,
paratroopers, snipers
along that Gaza border, is there anything
that will be off limits
when if I
assume at
this point is when Israel goes in,
we will do whatever is necessary
to eliminate Hamas.
We going to come from the sea.
We're going to come from the land.
We're going to come from the air.
We're going to hunt them down.
They butchered 1200 Israelis
and they went to the communities.
We did not attack
soldiers, attacked women.
Today, we
we actually saw the pictures
of innocent babies
that were tied up and burned alive.
Those are animals. We have to fight them.
We have to hunt them down.
And we are committed to do it.
You know,
we are still in in pain, in shock.
And I think in a few days,
we will start to show
the might of the IDF,
the strength of the Israeli people.
We put politics aside.
Now we are united
and we going to go into war
against Hamas.
Ambassador Danone, thank you very much.
I appreciate your time.