- Welcome to "The 700 Club."
Unexpected devastation.
The remnants of HurricaneIda shocked the East Coast
with record breaking rain,flash floods, and tornadoes.
The storm killed at least 46 people
from Maryland to Connecticut.
And on top of that,
Ida has cost of estimated $18billion in insured damage.
Mark Martin has that story.
- Forecasters warned peoplefrom the mid-Atlantic
and the Northeast about the potential
for deadly flash flooding,
but the region did not expectsuch an intense storm system.
The remnants of Hurricane Ida merged
with a front resultingin a first time ever
flash flood emergencyfor all five boroughs.
In Central Park, father Tasko Brown
swam through the floodwaters to safety
while carrying his eight-month-old boy.
- I just used God-givenstrength that I had
and had to pull him out
and never experienced nothing like it.
It was frightening.
Worst thing I've ever seen.
- [Mark] The floods overwhelmed the entire
New York City subway system
forcing officials to shut it down.
The NYPD says 835 subwaypassengers had to be rescued
and people abandoned nearly500 vehicles across the city.
In Connecticut, a statetrooper lost his life
while checking on conditions.
Floodwaters swept his patrol car away
where three rivers come together.
- He's one of the seniorsergeants on the state police,
well respected, and it's just a tragedy.
- [Mark] In Philadelphia,residents made hundreds
of calls for water rescues.
The Schuylkill River flooded the area
with the water rising ashigh as this overpass.
At a Pennsylvania apartment complex,
the National Guard rescued
around a dozen people and their pets.
- We really appreciate it.
You don't really expect thesetypes of things to happen
when you're in a big building like this.
- And in Louisiana where Ida came ashore,
New Orleans residents facing long lines
at gas stations and grocery stores.
CBN's Operation Blessing is set up
in Houma, Louisiana giving away generators
and Home Depot flood buckets and tarps.
And the help is necessary.
One early estimate says the insured losses
from Ida will come in around$18 billion in damages.
The final number could be higher.
Ida came ashore with someof the strongest winds ever
and leaving behind a trail of devastation
with much of New Orleans
still lacking power and running water.
And Ida's impact hasbeen felt from Louisiana
and Mississippi in the Gulf Coast
all the way to the Northeast.
Forecasters say mostrivers in the mid-Atlantic
and Southern New England willreturn to their banks today.
But high water may remain inareas with drainage issues.
Mark Martin, CBN News.
- Thanks, Mark.
We at CBN care very muchabout both the suffering
that's going on and ourOperation Blessing is now set up
to bring a relief supplies, bottled water,
non-perishable food, tarps, generators,
and Home Depot flood buckets.
And if you want to participatein helping these people
in the Northeast and inthe south area hit by Ida,
you can call a CBN Center, Virginia Beach.
It's Disaster Relief Fund.
And boy, you can the Lordthat you're still living.
This was one of the worstin our recent history.
It's just a terrible, terrible thing.
And it hasn't happened,
they say this is worsethan Sandy in New York.
But you can imagine the whole
subway being flooded and shut down.
It's unreal.
Well, in other news, a surprising move
by Israel this week offering economic aid
to the Palestinian Authority.
So far that decision isgetting mixed reviews.
The question is did theWhite House pressure
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett
to make this overture to the Palestinians?
Chris Mitchell takes us a look.
- [Chris] In what somewould call an about-face,
Israel is offering economic assistance
to the Palestinian Authority
and easing its blockade of the Gaza Strip.
While it could indicate an Israeli
and US policy change toward Palestinians,
it's also an attempt to weaken Hamas.
- Our declared goal is todo whatever is possible
to improve the life of Palestinians
in terms of the economy,security, also self-governance,
and also public healthand fighting the pandemic.
And Israel has approveda series of measures
to improve the economic situation.
- [Chris] The measuresinclude a $150 million loan,
as well as authorizing work permits
for an additional 15,000Palestinians to work inside Israel.
The move follows a surprise meeting
between Defense Minister Benny Gantz
and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas,
the highest level ofmeeting between the sides
in more than 10 years.
Former Israeli Ambassadorto the UN Danny Danon says,
while this coordination is necessary,
he believes the high profilemeeting was out of line.
- We have to remember that President Abbas
still support terrorism,
they pay base salariesto convicted terrorists.
I don't think he deserves therespect he got Minister Gantz.
- [Chris] Danon says theremay have been pressure
from Washington since the meeting happened
shortly after Bennett'smeeting with President Biden.
- And I'm sure thisissue was also brought up
in the discussions between
President Biden and by Minister Bennett.
- [Chris] Foreign MinisterYair Lapid confirmed
this move doesn't meannegotiations are resuming.
Still, Lapid says,Israel is not interested
in weakening the PA.
- I am a devoted believerin the two-state solution.
I think this is the right solution.
But we'll have to admit to the fact
this is not feasible inthe current situation.
- [Chris] Reserve MajorGeneral Eitan Dangot is former
coordinator of governmentactivities in the territories.
He believes the meetinghighlights the importance
of the West Bank to Israel and is meant
to strengthen Abbas against Hamas.
- Hamas used the last escalation of May
as the top of the interestaround the Palestinian issue.
They took the leadershipand they will put themselves
as those who are, let's say,
carrying and servingthe Palestinian people.
- [Chris] While the PArules Palestinian areas
in the West Bank, Hamasis gaining power there.
Hamas, which is dedicatedto Israel's destruction,
has ruled Gaza since 2007
when it seized control from a PA faction.
- We are not interestedin going back to Gaza.
We are not interested inchoking Gaza in seizures.
We just want to make surenobody's firing rockets
and missiles on us.
And if Hamas willguarantee peace and quiet,
they can guarantee alsothe functioning economy
and humanitarian aidto the people of Gaza.
- [Chris] Chris Mitchell, CBN News.
- Thanks, Chris.
Well with us now fromTel-Aviv is the former
Israeli Ambassador to theUnited Nations Michael Oren.
Michael, thanks so much for being with us.
Listen, they just underthe Trump administration
signed the Abraham Accords with people
like Bahrain and others,
and they totally bypassedthe Palestinian Authority
because there has alwaysbeen a block to any peace.
How come they're now coming in
and offering a peace tothe Palestinian Authority?
I don't understand it.
- Good to be with you, Pat.
Well, we don't understand it much either
to tell you the truth.
The Palestinians hold the world record
of a people who have beenoffered a two-state solution
and have turned it down,usually turn it down
with violence going back tothe 1930s believe it or not,
the first time they wereoffered a two-state solution.
It's a shame.
I really think the UnitedStates should be investing
in the Abraham Accords expanding them
to include countries likeKuwait and Saudi Arabia
and building a regionalpeace that would serve
as a bulwark against Iran,against Sunni extremists
backed by Turkey likethe Muslim Brotherhood,
and also perhaps find a framework
for advancing peace with the Palestinians.
But trying to work on thatsort of bilateral track,
people have tried this for 30 years, Pat.
I've been involved in justabout all those efforts.
I was an ambassador YitzhakRabin back in the early '90s.
it's not going to work 'causethe Palestinians are either
incapable of signing on the dotted line
or they don't want to.
- What is going on?
Is this pressure by Bidenor does Naftali Bennett
really think it's going to be successful?
- I think it's pressure Ithink for the Democratic Party,
from the progressive wingof the Democratic Party,
which is highly critical of Israel,
which is putting pressureon the administration
to put pressure on Israel.
The big issue coming up will be
whether the United States will seek
to reopen a US consulatein east Jerusalem,
which prior to the Trump administration,
for decades served as adefacto American Embassy
to the Palestinians.
If you went on thewebsite of that consulate,
you'd never know there was a Jew
in the entire city of Jerusalem,
much less that the city wasunder Israeli sovereignty.
You'd never know that.
And if that consulate is reopened,
that will essentially mean a withdrawal
of America from itsrecognition of Jerusalem
as Israel's United capital,
a sort of defacto wayre-dividing the city.
And I think that no Israeli government
should ever agree to that.
- Don't you think it's time?
The Saudis really wantto start making peace
with Israel and the Arab countries do.
And to have this group blocking again,
again, I can't understand it.
And there's no way it's going
to be a two-state solution, is there?
- No, one's listening.
We keep on offering a two-state solution.
They keep on turning it down.
As I said, they turned itdown mostly with violence.
They're trying to tell ussomething and no one's listening.
I think that's a great tragedy, actually,
a tragedy for the Palestinians.
Tragedy for Palestiniansand Israelis alike
that governments in Europe
and here the UnitedStates government wants
to give the Palestiniansa veto power over peace.
They're saying if thePalestinians don't want peace,
there's not going tobe peace anywhere else.
No, bring peace elsewhere.
Bring it with Israel andBahrain, as you mentioned,
Pat, with UAE, withMorocco, and hopefully later
with Saudi Arabia and Kuwaitand other Arab countries.
Bring all that together,then go to the Palestinians
and say, "Okay, you wantsomething that looks like a state,
you're going to have to workthrough a regional framework
'cause clearly you are notcapable of doing it alone."
And I don't know ifthat sounds patronizing,
but that's the only way it's gonna work
'cause the Palestinians, I said before,
historically repeatedly have proven
that they are eitherunwilling or incapable
of negotiating for their own independence.
- Michael, I totally agree with you.
I am amazed and just shocked.
But if that's what theDemocrats are pushing,
I hope that Bennett and thoseother guys will stand firm
against the nonsense that's coming
out of this Biden administration.
Michael Oren, thanks somuch for being with us,
appreciative it.
- Bless you all, have a good day, bye-bye.
- Deliberate interference,deliberate interference.
Interference with what?
Our own government, thegovernment of Biden has tried
to keep from evacuatingpeople from Afghanistan.
Well, despite the roadblocks,
private evacuation efforts havehelped thousands to escape.
And they're not done yet.
Caitlin Burke has moreon what's being called
Afghanistan's version ofthe Underground Railroad.
- The State Department says the mission
in Afghanistan is complete.
The focus now shifting to diplomacy,
but for the hundreds of American citizens
and thousands of Afghanallies still trying
to get out of the country,the war isn't over.
- People are dying rightnow, and many more will die
because they can't get outof there, they're trapped.
- [Caitlin] President Biden touted the US
evacuation effort asthe largest of its kind.
While that may be true,
thousands who should havegotten out were turned away.
Representative MichaelMcCaul worked for days
to evacuate 250 Christianorphans in an Afghan girls choir.
- They had visa, they had aprivate plane waiting for them.
The Taliban actually let them through
and then our own United Statesgovernment turned them away
after sitting there for aday back to the Taliban.
- [Caitlin] Joel Richardson
with Global CatalyticMinistries says their
rescue efforts faced what feltlike deliberate interference
each step of the way fromthe State Department.
- Even to the point whereAlbania had cleared a plane
of refugees and they were in the air
and the State Departmentrefused to let them land.
They actually had toturn around and go back.
So what you're hearing in the news
in terms of this greatevacuation versus what
we were seeing on theground, it was night and day.
- [Caitlin] The bureaucraticholdups and other roadblocks
caused by official evacuation channels,
forced lawmakers like McCaul
to take matters into their own hands.
- Almost running like aparallel government operation
to go in and save lives because
our own government wasnot doing an adequate job.
- [Caitlin] Private operations also
bypassing the US government.
One of the most successful known
as the Commercial Task Force was made up
of thousands of volunteers.
It originally formed to rescuea small group of children.
It eventually evacuatedmore than 5,000 Afghans.
- We really tried to target the people
that we thought were the highest risk
for anything that bythe Taliban declaration
would be considered a target.
- [Caitlin] Another well-knownoperation, Pineapple Express,
involved current and formerUS special operators,
aid workers, and intelligence officers.
So far, they've brought more
than a thousand people to safety.
And their effort is ongoing.
Team members saying measures are in place
to continue facilitating evacuations.
Global Catalytic Ministries will also
continue their rescue efforts.
- We're essentially establishingan underground railroad.
It's a matter of finding a network
of safe locations, getting them places
where they can sort of lay low in interim.
Little by little, we've runover 50 operation so far.
- [Caitlin] While much of the ministry's
effort is focused onhelping people escape,
Richardson says about30% of the Christians
in their underground churchnetwork actually want to stay.
- In fact, we have some of our leaders
that were out of the country
when the Taliban takeover took place
and they actually havegone back into the country
because they're so zealousto see the church continue
to expand to see disciples made.
- Now McCaul says that he plans
to hold the administration accountable
and his committee is going to be holding
oversight hearings to getto the bottom of this.
Pat.
- Caitlyn, I am simplyoverwhelmed with grief
at the fact that we would surrender
what mounts to thousands of people
who'd worked with us and also leaving
behind a number of Americanswho may become hostages.
But the fact that a plane load of people
who had been clearedwere actually turned back
by our State Departmentby Blinken and his crowd,
I can't understand it.
Do you have any conceptof why it happened?
- Pat, that's the questionthat everybody wants to know
and it doesn't make any sense.
These groups that I spoke with,
not a single one feltlike the US government
was supporting them.
And many of those people were lawmakers.
So they've got, Representative McCall says
he has top connections at the Pentagon,
top connections in the State Department
and he was running intothose same roadblocks.
So none of these people understand it.
None of these groups felt
like the government was working with them.
And so eventually, they allswitched to different methods.
The Commercial Task Forcesaid they actually had people
in the State Departmentwho they were asking like,
"How can we get around this?
You're part of our task force.
What do we need to do?"
And their hands were tied.
They had no answers.
So somebody who's able togo to those state briefings,
they're not letting me go right now,
needs to be asking those questions
because it's unacceptable.
- What about the status ofChristians still in Afghanistan?
- So right now we're actually hearing
that SIB applicants, anyone who worked
with the United States isthe Taliban's top priority.
Christians are the second priority.
And the Taliban is sendingknown Christians messages
and basically saying,"We know where you are.
We know who you are andwe're coming back for you."
So Christians are running for the hills.
Some of them are justchanging locations frequently.
And Pat, we're actually hearing
that some Christians areboldly going to the Taliban
in their communities andevangelizing to them.
- Caitlin, fabulous story.
Thank you so much.
And ladies and gentlemen, one more time.
I have said it before.
Our president is eithertotally incompetent
or he is totally evil.
I don't understand.
But can you imagine a plane load of people
who'd been cleared to leave the country
and who were getting outare being turned around
by our government, our State Department,
and made me go back tocertain death in Afghanistan?
Can you imagine anythingas monstrous as that?
You say how could it possibly be?
Today is a day that I can'tunderstand what's going on.
I cannot understand thisso-called two-state solution
and the fact we're pressing
from that from theUnited States government.
It's not going to work.
As Michael Oren pointed out,
they've tried and triedand tried, it won't happen.
The same thing here.
But what is the matter?
It has been one of thegreatest diplomatic disasters
in the history of the United States.
And our enemies around theworld are now emboldened.
They don't fear us anywhere.
The Russians don't fear us.
The Chinese don't fear us.
Nobody does because we are in the hands
of a feckless group of people
who apparently are turningagainst our best interests.
And you say what in the world
have we given up our country to?
But it's happening.
There's no way that they can be impeached.
Many people think that Bidenand his crews should resign,
but now this latest disasterfrom Blinken and his crowd
in the state departmentis simply unacceptable.
