Morning news brief

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

We have an eyewitness account of the scene where a rocket struck near Israel's border with Lebanon.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

That rocket killed 12 children and wounded many more. Israel blames the Lebanese group Hezbollah and they're deciding how to respond. Now, Hezbollah denies responsibility, but the incident has again raised concerns of an even wider war in the Middle East.

INSKEEP: NPR's Kat Lonsdorf traveled to the Golan Heights, the Israeli-occupied area where the rocket fell. Hi there, Kat.

KAT LONSDORF, BYLINE: Hey, Steve.

INSKEEP: What did you see?

LONSDORF: So the strike happened in the town of Majdal Shams. It's very close to the border with Lebanon, like you said. You know, the community there is largely Druze. That's an Arab minority population. They're not Jewish. And some of them are Israeli citizens. And the town yesterday was completely in mourning. You know, all the shops were closed. There were black flags flapping in the wind on practically every corner. And everyone that we could see was wearing black. The grief there was palpable. People seemed like they didn't quite know what to do with themselves.

This is a really tight-knit community, and everyone we talked to was either related to a victim or knew someone who was. So we went to the soccer field where the strike happened and there were hundreds of people gathered there. It's turned into kind of a makeshift memorial, with wreaths placed in the crater where the rocket hit. But the scene was also still really fresh. We were there less than 24 hours after this happened. There was an Israeli organization there that's dedicated to collecting the remains of victims after terrorist attacks. And members of the community were donning rubber gloves and volunteering, going around and sifting through the scene to collect any human remains of the victims they could find. You know, it was quite sobering.

INSKEEP: Well, Israel is deciding how to respond to this. The United States will have its advice and its opinions. How did people on the ground want Israel to respond?

LONSDORF: Yeah, people are really angry. You know, they say this is one of the biggest tragedies their community has ever seen. Here's 52-year-old Nassar Abusalah (ph). He rushed to the scene after it happened and tried to help. You know, he spent all night there. He said his best friend's 15-year-old daughter was killed.

NASSAR ABUSALAH: (Non-English language spoken).

LONSDORF: "We wanted a very strong reaction yesterday," he said. "The response we want is to eliminate everything related to Hezbollah and Lebanon period." But, you know, others cast doubt on Israel acting with full force in a response. Some said they felt like the Druze community wasn't a high priority for the Israeli government. Many of them are not Israeli citizens, and since it was their children who died, maybe Israel wouldn't take it as seriously. But I will say, the rhetoric from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government does seem like they are taking it seriously. Netanyahu met with his security cabinet late into the night last night. And his office put out a statement saying that, quote, Hezbollah will pay a heavy price for it that it has not paid so far.

INSKEEP: Well, what are the early signs as to what that price might be?

LONSDORF: So we're still waiting to see. I mean, last night we were waiting to see if that response would come after that security cabinet meeting. You know, there were reports in Lebanon of limited Israeli airstrikes, but that's kind of par for the course these days.

INSKEEP: Sure.

LONSDORF: It does seem like neither side really wants a full-out war to begin, but the Israeli military has been making it clear for months now that they are prepared for a bigger war if, in fact, that is the way they choose to go. So it's not out of the question. But, you know, Israel is, of course, still fighting a war in Gaza, which shows no signs of ending soon. On the same day that this strike happened up here in the Golan Heights, an Israeli airstrike hit yet another school sheltering displaced Palestinians, killing 30 people, many of whom were also children. And there is increasing pressure here in Israel for Netanyahu to agree to a cease-fire deal with Hamas in Gaza, not only to bring the hostages home, but also to refocus military efforts up here in the north against Hezbollah.

INSKEEP: Kat, thanks so much for your reporting, really appreciate it.

LONSDORF: Thanks, Steve.

INSKEEP: That's NPR's Kat Lonsdorf. She is currently in northern Israel.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

INSKEEP: Venezuelans voted for president yesterday.

FADEL: The electoral authority declared President Nicolas Maduro the winner. Opponents of the socialist leader say they won and were blocked from monitoring the vote count.

INSKEEP: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken sided with the opposition.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ANTONY BLINKEN: We have serious concerns that the result announced does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people.

FADEL: During the campaign, opponents mounted a serious challenge to the long running rule of Maduro and his predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez. The political and economic crisis is so serious that in recent years, nearly a quarter of the population has fled.

INSKEEP: NPR's Carrie Kahn is covering all this from the Venezuelan city of Caracas. Carrie, welcome back.

CARRIE KAHN, BYLINE: Good morning.

INSKEEP: OK, let's start with the official results such as they are.

KAHN: Sure.

INSKEEP: What does the electoral authority say?

KAHN: They say that they have 80% of the vote counted, and Maduro had won 51% to opposition candidate and Edmundo Gonzalez's 44%. Right after that declaration, fireworks just lit the sky over downtown Caracas. Maduro then came out and he spoke. He told a sizable crowd that they all had won against powers attacking Venezuela's dignity.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT NICOLAS MADURO: (Non-English language spoken).

KAHN: He didn't mention the U.S. by name, but he said "they couldn't beat us with sanctions, they couldn't with aggressions or threats, and they never will." Maduro also said the electoral system was hacked by foreign terrorists, but he gave no proof and said he wouldn't name names. And the electoral authorities run by Maduro loyalists have yet to release the entire vote count, but they said they will in, quote, "the coming hours."

INSKEEP: OK, so that is the official view of events. What does the opposition say?

KAHN: They declared victory themselves. And they cried foul, denouncing violations, they said, in hundreds of voting stations. The biggest accusation is that the authorities kicked opposition observers out of those stations and refused to print or even transmit voting tallies. Edmundo Gonzalez, who was the last-minute candidate for the opposition, said Venezuelans and the entire world know what happened. And Maria Corina Machado, the opposition's most popular leader, who was banned from running, called the fraud a gross disregard and violation of popular sovereignty.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MARIA CORINA MACHADO: (Non-English language spoken).

KAHN: Machado says that according to independent exit polls and the 40% of the votes they've counted, Gonzalez won by a huge margin - she says 70%. And I can just tell you, Steve, that I watched the vote count in one polling place after the polls closed in downtown Caracas. And of course, this isn't a scientific survey at all. But in that center, the vote for Gonzalez was 85% to Maduro's 12%.

INSKEEP: I'm just trying to think about what happens now, Carrie. There have been multiple elections where the opposition has tried to vote out Maduro's government. Each time, they're told by the government they failed. I covered one of those elections. So what happens now?

KAHN: That is the biggest question. The opposition has called for calm and says they're determined to make sure all votes are counted. But they didn't specify how they're going to do that. In the past, like you said, they called for massive street protests that were put down with violence.

INSKEEP: NPR's Carrie Kahn is in Caracas, Venezuela. Carrie, thanks very much.

KAHN: You're welcome.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

INSKEEP: Wow, it seems like longer, but Vice President Harris has been the likely Democratic presidential nominee for barely a week. We heard enthusiasm for Harris among Democratic voters in Pennsylvania last week, and her campaign raised hundreds of millions of dollars in donations.

FADEL: Former President Donald Trump is trying to reclaim the spotlight. In recent days, he told a gathering of Christian voters that if they just support him one time, he would have things, quote, "fixed," so they, quote, "won't have to vote anymore." He also attacked his new opponent, whose name is pronounced Kamala.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

DONALD TRUMP: If a crazy liberal like Kamala Harris gets in, the American dream is dead.

INSKEEP: So how is Trump trying to claw back attention? NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez is covering the Trump campaign. Franco, good morning.

FRANCO ORDOÑEZ, BYLINE: Good morning, Steve.

INSKEEP: He's in our studios here, Studio 31 in Washington, D.C. How is Trump recalibrating to a new opponent?

ORDOÑEZ: Well, he's still looking to tie Harris to Biden's most unpopular policies, including inflation, and especially the border, which is a vulnerability for her. But as Leila mentioned, he's also escalating his attacks and getting personal. He's calling her sick and unhinged. He's attacking her past, her time as a district attorney in California, and charging that she would impose San Francisco values on the country.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

TRUMP: Kamala Harris was the original Marxist district attorney. She destroyed San Francisco and she will destroy our country. She will be the worst president we've ever had. She will be worse than crooked Joe Biden.

ORDOÑEZ: And, Steve, listening to that, I'll just point out that Harris was criticized on the left as well for her time as a prosecutor. You know, and she's not hiding from the fact that she was a prosecutor, even framing the race as one between prosecutor and convict. She's emphasizing how she took on predators, including predators who abuse women, which is a clear reference to Trump's multiple convictions.

INSKEEP: Thirty-four of them, to be exact. I am thinking about how the former president was said to have a unity message for a minute after his assassination attempt. Has that lasted?

ORDOÑEZ: Yeah, it really didn't last that long. I mean, Trump seemed to kind of joke about it, actually, you know, how people thought he'd change after the assassination attempt two weeks ago.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

TRUMP: No, I haven't changed. Maybe I've gotten worse, actually, because I get angry at the incompetence that I witness every single day.

ORDOÑEZ: On Friday he called Harris a bum and went into detail about how he didn't care about mispronouncing her name.

INSKEEP: Now, the Harris campaign, however you pronounce her name, has raised $200,000,000 since she emerged as the likely Democratic presidential nominee, which, I guess we should just note, that's a lot. How does that affect Trump, though?

ORDOÑEZ: I mean, I don't think he's happy about it. I mean, it is a lot of money. But the Trump campaign will tell you that it is simply a honeymoon period. I spoke with Bryan Lanza, a former campaign official who is still in contact with the team and Trump. He says Democrats are experiencing a sugar high.

BRYAN LANZA: And what do we know about sugar highs? That the crash eventually happens. But when the sugar runs out, when the sugar high evaporates, as it always does, they're going to realize they're even in a worse position than they were with Joe Biden.

ORDOÑEZ: You know, most polls taken after she entered the race show her about even with Trump. At the same time, this is not territory that Trump is so familiar with. I mean, he doesn't like to give up the spotlight and usually doesn't have to. And they're also having to play some defense as some of JD Vance's past comments have drawn controversy. And Trump had so much momentum after the debate, as well as after the Republican National Convention. There was this feeling of inevitability across the campaign, and right now it's just a whole different dynamic.

INSKEEP: Franco, thanks very much for the insights. Always a pleasure to see you.

ORDOÑEZ: Thank you, Steve.

INSKEEP: NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.