Gruesome Attack in Jerusalem Kills 4 Rabbis; American Woman Charged with Promoting ISIS
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The next hour of CNN "NEWSROOM" starts now. And good morning, I'm Carol Costello, thank you so much for joining me. We begin this hour with new developments out of the Middle East. Two men armed with knives and axes and machetes storm into a Jerusalem synagogue and hack away at worshippers. Four Israeli rabbis are killed, three of those victims were Israeli-Americans and because of that, the FBI will launch an investigation of its own. We also have new video of the aftermath of that attack and I want to warn you right now, what you are about to see is graphic and it's disturbing. We're going to take you inside that synagogue where the attackers carried out that bloody rampage. In addition to the four rabbis killed, at least six other worshippers were wounded. Both of the Palestinian men were killed. Here are those pictures. All right, you can see the carnage that went down here. I want to bring in Alan Dershowitz who's well known for his legal expertise. The Harvard law professor is also the author of the "Evil Terror Tunnels: the Case for Israel's Just War against Hamas." Looking at those pictures, they're just so disturbing.</s>ALAN DERSHOWITZ, HARVARD LAW SCHOOL, EMERITUS PROFESSOR OF LAW: Well, they're essentially ...</s>COSTELLO: Rabbis and worshippers attacked.</s>DERSHOWITZ: They're essentially beheadings. I mean they're not different from what ISIS has done. These were people with access coming in and trying to essentially behead rabbis at prayer. People of peace, people who are not part of the political activities in Israel. I knew one of them. I knew the family of one of them. He was a Bostonian and a great peace lover.</s>COSTELLO: The FBI will launch its own investigation. How might that work?</s>DERSHOWITZ: It won't be anything more than symbolic. Israeli intelligence is much better equipped to get to the causes of this. The FBI will come in because technically these were American citizens and the FBI has jurisdiction. It will help the Israelis but Israeli intelligence and police will do the vast majority of the work.</s>COSTELLO: Israeli authorities right now believe these two men were lone wolves, they were Palestinian men, and but they believe they were lone wolves and they say these kinds of attack are happening more often within Israel, especially Jerusalem, and that they're very difficult to prevent.</s>DERSHOWITZ: They are. But there's no such thing as a lone wolf when it comes to these acts of terrorism. They're incited and inspired, they are inspired by Hamas, by Islamic Jihad and tragically even by Abbas, by Abu Mazen who has talked about defending Jerusalem and using all means to defend Jerusalem. That sends a message to lone wolves and so although they're -- the actual ax is wielded by these individuals, they are listening to voices from the leadership of the Palestinian Authority. Israel, on the other hand, always condemns attacks by individual radicals such as the ones who burned the Palestinian young man after the three Israelis were kidnapped. So you can't create a moral equivalence. You have individuals on both sides who are bad, but the Israeli government constantly condemns the bad Israelis whereas the leadership of the Palestinian Authority, Hamas particularly, praises them and makes martyrs of them, even the Palestinian Authority names parks after them and athletic fields after them. There's a big difference.</s>COSTELLO: I understand. Let's go back to the attack itself because it happened in a synagogue and there are those who say that this might spark a religious war. How was this kind of attack more dangerous than others?</s>DERSHOWITZ: Because when you have religious warfare, you cannot resolve it rationally. Each side thinks that God has spoken to them and they're listening to God's voice. Israel is a secular society for the most part. Its actions are made based on secular military decisions. But Hamas is a religious organization who believes that it is acting in the interest of God. And that's why they won't compromise, that's why they won't recognize Israel, that's why their charter calls for the killing of Jews and destruction of synagogues and the establishment of a caliphate. Hamas is ISIS, but it's on the border of Israel rather than as far away as ISIS is from the United States.</s>COSTELLO: Alan Dershowitz, thank you for your insight. I appreciate it. Of course, we'll be talking much more about this horrible incident in Jerusalem in the coming hours on CNN. Now, let's turn to the terror group ISIS and its alarming talent to successfully recruit newcomers, including those from the West. Today a Virginia woman is charged with lying about her ties to the terror group and her social media postings promoting ISIS. CNN's Deborah Feyerick is chasing down details. She joins me now with more. Good morning.</s>DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Well, about a half dozen Facebook accounts suggest that this woman was becoming more and more radicalized and supportive of ISIS, posting images of the "virtues" and of "Mujahedeen" and claiming "I love ISIS." She was upset that her account kept getting deleted because of her views and her postings. The woman is 29-year-old Heather Coffman, she's accused of working as an ISIS recruiter, someone who could help others get to Syria, join the blood thirsty terror group. According to an FBI criminal complaint, she tried to recruit two people, including an undercover FBI agent. Now, in the first case, a man she claimed to be her husband but whom it appears she'd never met, she allegedly set him up with brothers who gave him contacts into Turkey. The man ultimately was in Macedonia, he changed his mind, he stayed there. But after FBI agents executed a search warrant on her Facebook site, an undercover agent posing as a wannabe jihadi met with the woman saying that he, too, was interested in ISIS jihad. She said that she could find a legitimate facilitator to get him to Syria. At least one of the meetings was recorded with Coffman creating a code language effectively to avoid detection. She was confronted at her office by FBI agents. She denied her activities. Coffman was charged with essentially lying to federal investigators, making false statements, promoting international domestic terrorism. We have reached out to her lawyer. There are a few personal details right now, but according to the FBI this is a woman who actually talked her own sister into believing in the benefits of ISIS and jihad, Carol.</s>COSTELLO: Deborah Feyerick reporting live for us this morning. Thank you. With more Americans being abducted by terrorists overseas, President Obama has now ordered a review of hostage policy. That review was revealed the day after the execution of Peter Kassig, the third American killed by ISIS. Kassig's mother spoke of his aid work in Syria.</s>PAULA KASSIG, PETER KASSIG'S MOTHER: Peter's life is evidence that he has been right all along -- one person makes a difference. Our hearts are battered, but they will mend. The world is broken, but it will be healed in the end.</s>COSTELLO: The hostage policy review could lead to changes in how the government responds to families. Previously, families have criticized the Obama administration saying it didn't follow leads or threaten criminal prosecution if ransoms were paid. CNN's Joe Johns is at the White House with more. Good morning.</s>JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Your heart really goes out to these families, especially on that issue of ransom. The United States doesn't pay it, although some European countries do. So there's the rub. This review is expected to look at how the government deals with the families as well as what the intelligence community is doing, what the diplomatic community is doing. The president ordered this review over the summer and it was badly needed because these families do feel sort of caught in the middle between their concerns about their loved ones and what the government is telling them. And sometimes those messages are very much conflicting. Information about this review was first disclosed after an exchange of letters between Congressman Duncan Hunter of California and the government. The National Security Council went ahead and confirmed that the review is going on, although it did say they cannot disclose all the details about what the government does to try to free these hostages once they are taken captive. Carol?</s>COSTELLO: All right, Joe Johns reporting live from the White House this morning. Still to come in the "NEWSROOM," harsh words from a new woman - well, from another woman, I should say, who says Bill Cosby sexually assaulted her.</s>JOAN TARSHIS, ALLEGES BILL COSBY RAPED HER IN 1969: He's a serial rapist, actually. I mean, when you rape at least 16 women, that's serial, that's a serial rapist ... Um: Yeah.</s>TARSHIS: in my opinion.</s>COSTELLO: Her name is Joan Tarshis, she's speaking out about what she said happened 45 years ago. Here more, next.