Extended interview: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

[0:01] 60 minutes over time mr prime minister good to see you good to be with you is the war with iran [0:10] over and if it isn't who will decide when it is i think it accomplished a great deal but it's not [0:16] over because there's still nuclear material enriched uranium that has to be taken out of [0:21] iran there is still enrichment sites that have to be dismantled there are still proxies that [0:30] iran supports their ballistic missiles that they still want to produce now we've degraded [0:36] a lot of it but all that is still there and there's work to be done president this war cannot end until [0:43] all those things are eliminated well certainly we want to get the nuclear material out we certainly [0:48] want to get the enrichment sites dismantled we've curbed a lot we've degraded a lot of the missile [0:54] production sites but the agreement should cover all these areas including the proxies can it end [1:00] with as president trump has uh has led now a blockade and economic pressure on them to do it [1:09] with non-military means fine if it can be accomplished why not but if not both the united [1:14] states and israel we both agree president trump and i that if necessary you can re-engage them [1:20] militarily if it's necessary if it's necessary how do you envision the highly enriched uranium will be [1:26] removed from iran you go in and you take it out with what special forces from israel special forces [1:33] united states working in tandem under international supervision how well i'm not going to talk about [1:38] military means but the president what president trump has said to me i want to go in there i mean [1:43] he said that publicly he said it and i think he's right he's very committed to this uh and and i think [1:50] it can be done physically that's not the problem if you have an agreement and you go in and you take [1:55] it out why not that's the best way what if there isn't an agreement can it be taken out by force [2:02] well you're going to ask me these questions i'm going to dodge them so you can ask me that [2:06] second time third time and i'll dodge it second time third time because i'm not going to talk about [2:13] our our military uh possibilities plans or anything of the kind and i think you understand that i do [2:20] understand that but it's of great concern to the american people and the people of israel how long this [2:27] will take and absent an agreement what kind of things should they prepare for i think the most [2:33] important thing for people to understand in america and in israel i think they do understand it but [2:39] from the world in europe you have to understand iran that declares not merely death to israel but death [2:46] to america that's what they want to achieve they don't not only want to kill americans which they have [2:52] killed and wounded them by the thousands burned up your embassies killed your marines burn your flags [3:00] tried to assassinate the president of the united states and your and some of your chief officials [3:07] several times they're committed to destroy america they say that okay their commitment involved their [3:16] plans over the years to build nuclear bombs and the means to deliver them to the united states [3:23] they were very close to developing a nuclear bomb okay very close in fact if we hadn't done [3:30] the two military operations that we did they'd have a bomb within now or within a month or two now [3:37] you don't want a fanatic regime like that that hates america that is has no compunction of murdering [3:44] its own citizen murdering and wounding tens of thousands of its own citizens you don't want them [3:51] to have nuclear weapons that's what prompted president trump and me to go out and stop them [3:57] prevent them from having them and i'm just trying to get at how long is it going to take to achieve [4:01] that aim i'm not going to give a timetable to it but i'm going to say that's a terrifically important [4:08] mission because you don't want iran to have ballistic missiles to reach any city in the united states [4:16] with nuclear warheads because no american would be safe and i think president trump understood that [4:21] from the start i don't think i know that he understood that from years of discussion with [4:26] this you know i came to the united states in 2000 2016 right right before the elections because i made [4:40] it a habit to meet with the candidates of both parties either in america or here so i go to 2016 [4:47] it's right before the elections and i meet with hillary clinton and then i meet with donald trump in new [4:54] york the first thing he says to me in trump tower is we can't let iran have nuclear weapons i'm going [5:01] to walk out of that terrible iran deal jump forward eight years later there's another election i meet [5:11] president biden and kamala harris in washington and then i go and meet donald trump in mar-a-lago and the [5:18] first thing he says to me even before i sit down he says you know bb we cannot let iran have nuclear [5:26] weapons i'm not going to let it happen so he's infused with this mission what do you think changed [5:33] from the first term to the second term because it was a phrase he spoke to you in 2016 it's action he [5:39] took with your government now well i think in the first term he believed as did i that we could enforce [5:47] sanctions a sanctions regime which he did uh and and basically bring it on to its knees which is a [5:53] phrase he used yeah well they stopped exporting oil and you know and just reduced it completely [6:00] he hoped that that would uh work and it did for a while but it didn't really stop them it it uh i would [6:08] say it slowed them down but it didn't stop them then they went back to enrichment they went back to full [6:15] their full efforts on nuclear to develop a nuclear weapon and what changes that they were very close [6:21] to achieving it that's what prompted the action and it amazes me frankly you know when we talk [6:27] about it say people ask what is the purpose of this war what's the point the point is not to let a [6:33] regime committed to the destruction of the united states and israel they call us the little satan [6:38] they call you the big satan what do you do with the big satan you have to remove it from the world [6:43] that's their doctrine not to let such a regime have nuclear weapons because it's it's very different if [6:49] i don't know let me pick a country if holland has nuclear weapons it's not the same as the [6:55] ayatollah regime that calls for your destruction having nuclear weapons so that's what prompted this [7:01] these military operations mr prime minister what is your evaluation of the state of the iranian regime [7:07] today is it just as well composed well organized and fanatical as you just described i think it's [7:15] the weakest point it's been since the uh since it uh hijacked the iranian people since 1979 yeah [7:21] absolutely it's the weakest it's been the hardliners are just as hardline as they were before but there [7:27] are fissures in the uh in the regime i mean they're they're cracks in it because they're you know they've [7:33] been hit very hard by our joint efforts our joint military efforts we destroyed a lot of their uh the [7:40] money machine their petrochemical plants their steel plants in which they produce these the raw [7:46] material for these rockets and and uh and ballistic missiles and other things we we hit them very [7:53] hard but uh and so it causes now a debate within this uh with this regime some say you know let's [8:02] keep on you know let's keep on trucking and others are saying you know if we do our economy will collapse [8:07] and the people will rise that's the real fear the people will rise because they're really afraid of [8:12] the iranian people so they are you know there's there's a debate they're weak they're certainly [8:18] weaker than they were before but it's not over and the jury's still out i'm the first one to say it [8:23] what do you believe is the physical condition and operational influence of the current supreme leader [8:32] yeah if you ask me what his condition is first of all if you ask me if he's alive i think he is alive [8:38] what his condition is it's hard to say you know he's holed up in some bunker or in some secret place [8:45] and he's uh i think he's trying to uh exert his authority i don't think he has the same authority [8:53] that the his father the i told him in i had i don't think so that's also creating the the disruptions [9:00] in that regime and i don't think that's a bad thing but i think the real question is not also not so much [9:05] what they do it's what we do you know do we keep them in check do we keep up the pressure and i think [9:11] the answer is we should and we are and president trump has been leading this effort i think quite [9:18] in quite unexpected ways the blockade on them when they were blockading the gulf is actually turn [9:24] the tables on them and but you know it's an ongoing thing with the fractures and fissures you [9:30] described do you have a genuine sense of who can negotiate a deal that is durable on the iranian [9:39] side i have my opinions please share them i share them with the president okay any guidance on what [9:50] those opinions are i have opinions on my opinions too but i'm not going to share them here either [9:55] understood understood what about the second front of this conflict which is lebanon but not lebanon it's [10:03] hezbollah is that near an end is that a war that is nearing an end and has israel achieved its [10:12] strategic and tactical goals against hezbollah hezbollah had 150 000 ballistic missiles and rockets [10:20] before the war 150 000 that's the densest concentration of these projectiles on the planet [10:27] and they were all aimed to destroy our cities not only to harass the north of the country right with [10:33] rockets but to destroy our cities uh tel aviv jerusalem haifa you name it with ballistic missiles that [10:40] come raining down you know each one has half a ton or a ton of uh explosives and they come down it's [10:46] like a bus coming down with amazing speed and the destruction is terrible we destroyed the bulk of [10:53] that we destroyed about 90 more than 90 percent of that but that still leaves them with thousands of [10:59] uh uh of rockets and uh and some ballistic missiles uh and that's still a big issue they still hold lebanon [11:09] hostage hezbollah is basically a proxy of iran iran holds lebanon we have no quarrel with lebanon we [11:16] can make peace with lebanon and want to make peace with them tomorrow no yesterday but you have this foreign [11:22] body this uh this uh iranian-backed terrorist organization that hijacked the country right and the [11:29] lebanese government has a history of being in incapacitated or unable right so when you're [11:36] negotiating with the lebanese government many people are confused how does that solve the hezbollah [11:41] problem well it doesn't not yet so we've had to go into lebanon to prevent a repeat of the invasion [11:48] we had in gaza you know in october 7th hamas invaded us butchered our our men beheaded our men raped our [11:57] women and then killed them burnt our babies did the worst massacre against jewish people since the [12:02] holocaust and guess what on the other border hezbollah from lebanon was planning to do even more [12:10] they had 5 000 red one forced terrorists ready to invade the galilee so we push them back we've got [12:17] a security belt now that prevents them from doing that or shooting anti-tank missiles into our kitchens [12:24] into our living rooms but it's not over yet we have we still have uh missiles we have drones killer [12:32] drones we have to deal with it now if we are let me tell you the lebanese would like us to do that [12:38] many you know they talk eradicate hezbollah oh yeah because they want freedom who would want a country [12:45] to be taken over by these killers these murderers of course they want to be free but they've not shown [12:51] yet the capacity to fight them what we're talking to them about is how do we work together to [12:58] militarily and politically possibly splitting up the work to get rid of hezbollah it's not yet been [13:06] done it has to be done is it possible mr prime minister that the war with iran could end but the [13:11] war with hezbollah could continue that these would be separate and divergent well they should be [13:16] they should be what iran would like to do is to say no you know if we achieve a ceasefire here [13:21] we want to ceasefire they do clearly you know why because they want hezbollah to stay there [13:27] and continue to torture lebanon continue to hold its people hostage and continue will you accept that [13:32] no no we've seen even if president trump asks you to well look he understands what i'm saying i mean [13:39] we are we want to get rid of that danger to our communities to our cities they rocket our cities [13:46] all the time they rocket our communities and of course you would you want to live like that i mean [13:51] would you like to live where do you live uh major i live in washington dc yeah so uh okay so in [13:56] bethesda you've got i live right downtown okay you've got in bethesda right near the white house [14:01] that's the that's about the the distance in bethesda in my conversations you would have [14:06] a terrorist organization that claims they want to destroy the united states and destroy washington and [14:11] they have the uh you know the missiles and the drones to do that right across your border uh your [14:18] municipal line would you accept that of course not you wouldn't do that right so this could go on [14:24] yeah but even if iran is solved i hope no if iran if this regime is indeed weakened or possibly toppled [14:32] i think it's the end of hezbollah it's the end of hamas it's probably the end of the khutis because [14:37] the whole scaffolding of the terrorist proxy network that iran built collapses if the regime in iran [14:44] collapses now that's not guaranteed but the weakening of that regime weakens the proxies as well [14:49] still a long haul you know it's not something that's going to be done tomorrow do you believe [14:56] it is possible to topple the iranian regime i think that you can't predict when that happened is it [15:02] possible yes is it guaranteed no but i can tell you it's like bankruptcy you know it proceeds what [15:09] is it proceeds gradually and then it falls right like that you couldn't predict the fall of the [15:15] soviet union you couldn't predict the fall of the ceausescu dictatorship in romania very few people [15:22] predicted the fall of syria correct and it happens now is it what precedes it there has to be a [15:29] weakening of the regime the regime has been weakened but it's not it's not guaranteed there are a few [15:33] places on earth where the israeli intelligence operatives know more about than the internal [15:38] dynamics of iran what are they telling you just what i told you they've been weakened they have [15:44] internal fights they're worried but i can't tell you i can tell you one thing when did the when did the [15:54] uprisings when did the revolt in the street happen in iran it happened after our first operation after [16:02] rising lion after midnight hammer the two names that we have for that uh and then you know they came [16:08] out to the streets because because their condition economic conditions were bad were getting worse [16:14] but also because they saw that iran is not this overwhelming you know neighborhood bully that nobody [16:22] could resist we resisted them we fought them our our planes controlled the skies over tehran which was [16:28] unthinkable before that and then they went out to the streets they were mauled they were massacred [16:35] they were wounded maimed by the tens of thousands uh and so you know that memory has to linger the [16:42] memory lingers and i think something else i think they also the legitimacy is gone because they understand [16:47] that it's just brute force that is keeping them so would that rise up again could that happen again my [16:53] views it probably could but you can't guarantee it and contrary to what people said i didn't go to [17:00] the white house and said to uh uh donald trump you know it's guaranteed it can be done i said i didn't [17:08] really have to tell him he knew that we were approaching a situation where iran could produce a [17:12] nuclear weapon he knew that we were approaching a situation where iran's ballistic missile capability [17:19] after rising line was going to be reconstructed and khamenei wanted to put it underground the factories [17:26] underground not the missiles the factories underground to produce more and more and more ballistic missiles [17:31] and to do the same where there's nuclear uh uh industry put them underground under a heavy mountain [17:38] where even b2s couldn't reach it so he knew that we have to take action and he did i'm going to get to [17:47] that point you just made in a second if someone were to ask you as i'm going to mr prime minister [17:54] the capabilities of israeli intelligence within iran allowed you to pinpoint the location of supreme [18:00] leader and others that is a kind of granular intelligence that is borderline miraculous in [18:06] the modern world why wasn't it sufficient to also foment a revolution i think it could be a necessary [18:14] condition but i'm not sure that it's a sufficient condition but you're quite right about our granular [18:18] capability for surgical attacks why can't they also set in motion a revolution that could topple the regime [18:25] your operators because you need many things you not only need uh you know to attack the leadership [18:31] there's still a lot of people there uh you know one out of uh 100 uranians is in the uh secret [18:39] police you know and they're as they show they're quite ready to just butcher their people so it's not [18:45] that simple because it's terror it's basically the application of terror this is the preeminent terrorist [18:50] regime in the world okay they send terrorism to every country but first to their own people so [18:56] they terrorize them but we you know we have been accused of indiscriminate attacks we're the most [19:02] discriminating military on the planet in history you remember the beepers we knocked out we didn't [19:09] kill 2500 people but we impaired them knocked them out with surgical precision no collateral damage with [19:17] the beepers you know and that's what we proceeded to do against their key scientists against their [19:22] key commanders against their leaders but uh it's a component it doesn't guarantee it doesn't guarantee [19:30] the uh success of a revolt but it could uh help it happen so you referred to this a minute ago i [19:37] want to put the question directly to you because the new york times on april 7th reported the following [19:41] about a fateful meeting february 11th in the white house and the new york times reports as follows [19:48] quote in the situation room on february 11th mr netanyahu made a hard sell suggesting that iran was [19:55] ripe for regime change and expressing the belief that a joint u.s israeli mission could finally bring [20:02] an end to the iranian to the islamic republic is that correct no that's actually incorrect because [20:08] in what ways is it incorrect it's incorrect in the sense that i said oh well it's guaranteed [20:13] we can do it and so on i didn't say that uh we both understood that we have little time to act [20:19] because otherwise they'd get nuclear weapons we both understood that we have little time to act [20:24] because otherwise they'll bury underground their ballistic missile capabilities but while we were [20:31] we said that part of the action would be the removal of the leadership and other measures there was [20:37] uncertainty and we said it all this you know is uncertain if you ever you know engage in military [20:45] in the confines of that conversation you noted the uncertainty not only did i know that we both agreed [20:51] you know that there was both uncertainty and risk involved and i remember that we i said and he said [21:00] that the danger there's danger in action and taking action but there's greater danger in not taking [21:09] action so there was no certainty there there was no guarantee uh it wasn't pie in the sky the way [21:15] people describe it it was i think a very uh truthful presentation of the possibilities and the risk [21:23] picking up on that point that you just made and continuing what the new york times reported [21:28] quote mr netanyahu and his team outlined conditions they portrayed as pointing to certain victory [21:35] adding the regime would be so weakened that it could not choke off the strait of hormuz and the likelihood [21:41] that iran would land blows against u.s interests in the neighboring countries was assessed as minimal [21:48] is that factually incorrect i don't think we could quantify it exactly but i think that [21:55] the the problem of the hormuz straits was uh was understood as the fighting went on i think that's [22:02] it became understood it became it was it misread at the beginning i think i'm not sure it was misread [22:08] but you know there's a great risk for iran to do it and it took a while for them to understand how big [22:13] that risk is which they understand now because of the blockade because of the blockade and that's [22:18] that's actually a brilliant move by the president i think it's uh it's very smart uh and you i don't [22:24] think they calculated a that uh well i think they didn't calculate the response that this would have [22:32] yes they could cause a global dislocation of markets uh trying to take over an international maritime [22:39] route they could do that but they should have understood that that would eventually cause uh uh you [22:44] know a reaction that was very powerful and that is now collapsing their economy so that people [22:50] understand that we understand that yeah they could do it but then they wouldn't do it because they [22:54] understood what would happen if they did do it uh yeah no i don't claim a perfect foresight and nobody [23:00] had perfect foresight neither did the iranians they should have figured out that that's what's coming [23:06] did you say that most of these risks would be minimal i don't remember using that language [23:10] and i would that be a fair interpretation no i would say i would say that the overall conception [23:16] was that this would elicit a problem a response that they probably would not shoulder but they did [23:22] shoulder and now they respond they're attacking they're being attacked accordingly in those moments [23:28] was the precipitating factor the intelligence that was gathered and then by the israelis and confirmed [23:33] by the u.s about the location of the supreme leader and the opportunity that presented or was it the [23:38] imminent threat which was more it starts with the threat starts with the threat but again again you [23:44] have to understand this the president talked to me the two meetings that i described to you were among [23:50] many but he said we cannot let iran get a nuclear weapon because that's enormously dangerous to the [23:58] united states and the president first thinks about america and then he thinks also about the world [24:04] you can't let it happen so we knew it was going to happen it would have happened already if we hadn't [24:10] done it so that was the first thing everything else flows from that that's exactly how it happened [24:18] there's a quote that's frequently misattributed to winston churchill history is written by the victors [24:25] he didn't say it lots of people said it he didn't say no he said i don't worry about it because i'll write [24:30] it myself but that idea that victors write the history what will the history the state of israel [24:40] will write about this conflict with iran and when will you know it's been victorious [24:46] i think we already achieved great things remember iran was surrounding us with a noose of death of [24:54] simultaneous invasions from gaza from hamas and from uh from lebanon by hezbollah we were going to be [25:02] rocketed and pelleted with ballistic missiles that would destroy our cities iran would have atomic weapons [25:11] to destroy us we smashed the terror axis it's not finished we have still work to do but it's clear [25:19] that israel has emerged as the most powerful country in the middle east we have a partnership [25:25] with the u.s that is second to none the national security memorandum that was issued a few months [25:31] ago described israel as the model ally not the ally the model ally of the united states so we've changed [25:38] our position from being on the verge of being exterminated being annihilated to a position where [25:47] we knock back the annihilators and and become a very forceful element a very forceful country in the [25:55] middle east now all power is relative you know that all power is well yes so you never iran hasn't [26:03] disappeared hezbollah hasn't disappeared hamas hasn't disappeared but they're in many ways in some [26:10] cases a shadow of their former selves they certainly don't threaten us now with annihilation they try to [26:16] kill our people they occasionally succeed but there's no question that the relative power of israel [26:23] has changed and you know that's been our situation we when we we started out we were 600 000 people on [26:31] the beach here and we were attacked by seven arab armies and we survived by the skin of our teeth [26:38] and as we got stronger we made peace with the arab states i myself along with president trump we made [26:43] the abraham accords peace with four arab countries i now see the possibility of the expansion of those [26:50] agreements uh and the expansion and the deepening of the agreements we do have to alliances with arab [26:57] states of the kind that we never even dreamed of and that's the result of the change in the relative [27:04] power of israel the fact that we face down this this neighborhood bully these this killer regime in iran [27:11] that's brought quite a few of the arab countries closer together with israel and that's good for [27:16] peace it's interesting you mentioned that mr prime minister because i just read a wall street [27:20] journal story that said there is concern among the gulf states right now that if the iranian regime [27:28] hangs on and there is a peace deal that deals with nuclear and ballistic but does not deal with [27:35] shorter range conventional missiles and the allied militias an angry iran will present a greater danger [27:45] to these gulf states than it did before this conflict began point one point two also it said [27:50] that there is concern rising among the gulf monarchies that it will not allow and does not want israel to [27:57] exercise strategic dominance over the middle east so has any of this been jeopardized you know i'm [28:03] hearing different things i'm hearing i'm hearing different things i'm hearing the fact from arab countries [28:10] which i won't get into i'll say all of them no but some of them and i never heard that before let's [28:19] strengthen our alliance with israel because that in fact deters iran let's strengthen our alliance with [28:25] israel because we can work up our defenses as a result of it let's strengthen our alliance with [28:30] israel because we can do amazing things with israel that was clearly the trajectory before this kind [28:35] it's more than you think now in ways that i cannot i guess will become public oh you know [28:41] i can't give everything to 60 minutes or to you in one shot but i'm telling you that the degree of [28:47] economic cooperation on energy on ai on quantum the the areas where israel is so strong that's how [28:57] we're so strong i mean we're tiny country right but we're gigantic country we may have 10 million people [29:02] in tiny territory but gigantic talent and they see the possibility now of sharing the fruits of this [29:13] of these capabilities with them and and that's happening right now so yes of course there'll [29:20] still be a challenger from iran but the partnership with israel in fact helps deter that and help them [29:28] defend themselves and protect their future when you talk to my colleague tony de copo in october [29:34] 2025 you said something that really has been ringing in my ear it's near the end of the interview [29:38] he said the most important thing in destroying fanaticism is to destroy a certain hope when [29:45] israel is too strong that prepares the ground for a change of heart right has that happened it's [29:54] already happened with the arab world you know after a successive wars and they saw that israel [29:58] is not destroyed israel is there but i mean in this current context with hezbollah with iran [30:03] i think the fanaticism you're dealing here with fanatic regimes you know there are fanatics that's [30:10] why they're willing to do horrible things to their own people murder their citizens in iran murder [30:16] their citizens in lebanon murder their citizens and just execute them on the spot in hamas and gaza [30:23] they're not easily persuadable so you may need more staying power more resolve [30:29] to roll them back and finally to defeat them it's not something that happens overnight [30:35] but you the do democracies have the staying power do they have the resolve to stop these fanatics well [30:42] you think well it's not of our business it is your business because if iran were to develop nuclear [30:47] weapons and the means to deliver them to every american city it's just a question of time you know [30:52] they've just developed a missile to reach diego garcia that's 26 on 2400 miles to reach the united [30:59] states a little over 6000 miles so if you don't take this action if we hadn't taken this action if [31:05] we don't continue the pressure then one day you'll be faced with such a regime and then the question [31:11] is will you be able to deter them well it's not obvious look at what they're doing now without [31:17] nuclear weapons they're attacking everybody in sight they're jamming up this international waterway [31:25] and causing a crisis in the world economy and they're butchering their own citizens [31:29] you think they'll be you know they'll spare you they'll be nice to you but you still have that [31:35] we still have yes this is your philosophy this is your core philosophy yes i believe that free [31:40] societies have to be strong against and that you can force a change of heart within fanatical entities [31:47] in the region it's already happened it's happened in some places also in the gulf but it is uh you know [31:55] it's not guaranteed history doesn't guarantee the victory of free civilization it's it has to be [32:01] purchased freedom is precious survival is precious it's not it's not guaranteed by hope alone understood [32:10] it is guaranteed by the force of will and if necessary the force of arms now this is this is not a you [32:17] know this is not a popular belief these days because in the digital age we live where people just scroll [32:22] scroll and scroll scroll the sense of history becomes dim you know you're lucky in some cases [32:29] if it goes back to breakfast transient yeah ephemeral very ephemeral and and people don't understand the [32:36] always understand what i think is important that our free civilization is both precious but also [32:46] vulnerable and if societies don't have the will to defend themselves they'll be overtaken by the [32:52] barbarians i read this by uh and my favorite author one of my favorite authors will durant a great a [32:58] great american historian uh wrote you know the history of civilization and basically he wrote a [33:04] you know a compendium at the end a hundred page book lessons of history i gather you read it i have [33:10] indeed okay and so he says it you know he basically says this nothing's guaranteed good doesn't triumph over [33:16] evil it's not guaranteed unless good is willing to fight and what is happening in some parts of the [33:22] western society it looks like it's taken over a lot of western europe and some parts of the united [33:26] states fighting the bad people is bad because fighting is bad war is horrible i've been in it i [33:38] myself experienced it you know i i lost a fellow soldier died in my arms when he was 18. my brother [33:46] died rescuing hostages i myself was wounded in a hostage release and i've seen the horrors of war i've seen [33:53] my parents grieve for their older son i've seen other parents grieve i know the cost of war and i [33:59] know the pain of war war is hell exactly as described and you do everything you can to prevent civilian [34:06] casualties on the other side israel has gone to unbelievable lengths but sometimes you have no [34:11] choice and if you get to the point where people say no under no circumstances will we fight then you'll [34:20] have to fight under the worst of circumstances you mentioned this a moment ago but i want to probe it a [34:26] little bit this idea that a younger generation or on social media or scrolling do you believe israel is [34:32] at risk of losing this war on that social media front meaning what is being portrayed what is being [34:39] said and this is particularly i believe important in america for younger americans republican and democrat [34:47] who have hardened their selves against israel scrolling through images which tell them that there is [34:54] something not as you describe but uncivilized and they would use words like barbaric in gaza and in [35:05] lebanon well first are you losing that space yeah let me let me talk about that in a second but first let [35:11] me say something that your audience probably doesn't know that as i said a minute ago israel has gone to [35:16] unbelievable lengths to get innocent civilians out of harm's way we text message millions of text messages to [35:24] them make millions of phone calls to them pamphlets leaflets you name it okay and whereas hamas and [35:31] hezbollah go out of their way to keep their own people in harm's way they shoot them in gaza they [35:37] actually shoot civilians who wanted to leave the neighborhoods that we said to them please vacate [35:42] those neighborhoods so obviously we end up with civilian casualties but the the proportion of civilian [35:49] casualties non-combatants to combatants is one of the lowest in the history of modern urban warfare [35:55] so israel is given a bum rap one of the ways you can measure genocide is to see the ratio of combatants [36:00] to non-combatants and it's probably the lowest that's been in modern urban warfare because of the [36:07] efforts that we make now all of that is washed away because of what you said exactly what you said major [36:12] in other words we have seen the deterioration of the support for israel in the united states almost [36:21] i would say correlates almost 100 percent with the geometric rise of social media and that by itself [36:29] is not what caused it and i don't believe in you know censoring them or anything but i'll tell you [36:34] what happened we have several countries that basically manipulated social media with bot farms with fake [36:43] addresses to break the american uh... sympathy to israel to break the american israeli alliance because [36:51] they think it's in their interests and they do it in a clever way you know it's like you hear a text [36:57] message i'm a you know red-blooded texan i always supported israel but i can't stand what they're doing [37:03] i'm turning against israel and then you trace the address to some basement in pakistan you know and that's [37:09] that's something that has hurt us badly while we were fighting the physical military battle on seven [37:15] battlefields seven front war we were completely exposed on the eighth front the media war really [37:22] the the social media war and you know we've been busy so we we haven't seen that while they're [37:30] attacking us with the equivalent of f-35s we're trying to fight them with a polish cavalry it's like [37:36] it's almost what happened in world war ii so i think we have to engage on that front not by censorship [37:43] but by finding ways that are applicable to democracies we can't do what these authoritarian [37:49] regimes do but finding ways to fight the battle for the hearts and minds of young americans [37:55] on the social media and that we have to do absolutely we have a problem i recognize it [38:01] and we have to uh get our act together do you in any way consider yourself responsible for that problem [38:09] no because i don't think that they're not only attacking israel they're attacking america they're [38:15] attacking america they're trying to create ruptures within america not only between america and israel [38:20] between americans and americans they're trying to say foreign operation bot farms enormous ones [38:27] and also getting to your universities getting to your academic curricula doing all sorts of things that [38:34] is a truth a true scenario but do you believe that's the only explanation or is it possible that [38:42] some americans have come to a different sense of israel yes because of the last two or three years [38:48] organically and through their own you can track inquiry you can track it actually no i think what [38:53] they see is so many falsifications and vilifications that are unfounded but they don't know because they [38:59] just get it you know they just get the last reel in the movie they don't see the entire movie but i'll [39:04] tell you what happens we saw that several years before the uh you know before the uh the the gaza war which [39:12] definitely caused us a lot of damage because it was misrepresented but i'll tell you what it was [39:17] like the gaza war was pouring uh kerosene on a fire that was already there we could see that happening [39:25] we didn't understand it initially we didn't see when it started going down we didn't understand why is [39:29] it going down what's happening here before the gaza war but now we know we know a lot we know a lot and [39:35] there's that eighth front but it's not only our front it's also your front you know so many of americans [39:43] young people are say they're not proud to be americans i think they should be proud i mean without [39:49] america we wouldn't have this generation of freedom you wouldn't have the free societies that we have [39:54] the free civilization that we have uh and you know i think that this is a challenge that not only faces [40:01] the american israeli relationship it challenges the way america sees itself on that point looking forward [40:11] mr prime minister do you believe it's time for the state of israel to re-examine and possibly reset [40:19] its financial relationship to the united states meaning what the united states provides to israel [40:25] on an annual basis absolutely you know i've said this to president trump i've said it in to our own [40:31] people their jaws drop but i said look what do you mean what are you saying what i'm saying is that [40:38] i want to draw down to zero the american financial support the financial component of the military [40:46] cooperation that we have because we receive we receive 3.8 billion dollars a year now it's true [40:53] you spend trillions of dollars or hundreds of billions and billions of dollars in afghanistan and so [40:59] on and one of one of your senators said hell if we had in israel instead of afghanistan you know [41:05] uh you know over there we wouldn't have to spend a trillion dollars we wouldn't it'll be a lot cheaper [41:12] but i'm saying it's going to be a lot cheaper because i want to draw down the american support [41:17] for israel to zero we've come of age we have a booming economy after three years of war you know [41:25] our currency is the strongest it's ever been in the last 50 years maybe more our stock market is one [41:30] of the leading stock markets in the world it's because we have this this very high-tech juggernaut economy [41:36] one of the two uh centers of cross-discipline uh breaking breaking technologies just changing the [41:46] world and we have a lot of talent here which we share with our american friends and we're going to [41:51] share it with our arab friends too and i i think that it's time that we weaned ourselves from the [41:59] remaining uh military support and go from aid to partnership so i want to draw it down and then i want [42:07] to suggest projects joint projects for intel for weapons for missile defense israel i think has you [42:15] know is a leader in this in the world many countries come to us for it i'd like to share it with the [42:20] united states we put an exact amount of money you put the same we share the fruits exactly now i'm not [42:26] just speaking here because i did this we had financial aid when i first came in 90 1996 yes first time i [42:34] became prime minister and i i was invited by the u.s congress for a joint session you know one of four [42:41] sessions and i was young prime minister at the time so i said you know you you give us financial aid and [42:47] you give us military aid which also costs money so i think we're going to change israel to be a free [42:54] market high-tech juggernaut and as a result of that i'm saying that we can wean ourselves of the financial [43:01] aid that you were given and all my advisors said what is he doing what is he doing for a headline [43:07] he's giving up such an important part of the economy i said no it's not a headline we are going to make [43:13] this free market revolution which i led and we did and israel indeed became a preeminent and really a [43:20] gigantic force in the economy what we did for the on the economic side i'm not going to do on the military [43:28] side and basically have no american financial aid even on the military side for israel can you give me [43:36] a timetable i said let's start now and do it over the next decade over the next 10 years but i want [43:43] to start now i don't want to wait for the next congress i want to start now uh and uh you know it [43:49] could go down very fast could go down very fast but the most important thing you know general keen who [43:55] was head of one of your intelligence uh services said of what israel gave to the united states just [44:02] on intel he said it's worth five cias now i don't know if it's worth five cias or one cia i respect [44:07] the cia a lot but intangible matters israel is your best ally it's the only one that really provides you [44:16] with gems of intelligence shares our incredible technology appreciates every penny that you gave us [44:24] deeply appreciates you know if you go in israel today it's not like other countries like everybody's [44:29] pro-american because we appreciate what america stands for we appreciate the aid that was given [44:34] we appreciate what is happening now we appreciate president trump's resolute stand and the fact that [44:40] the american military is performing so miraculously and so bravely alongside our brave people our brave [44:46] pilots and soldiers we appreciate all that but i want i think it's time that we uh ended [44:55] over time an agreed schedule uh american military aid and move from aid to partnership the british [45:03] ambassador earlier this year said privately it's since come out that britain does not have a special [45:12] relationship with the united states anymore he said if there's a special relationship it's between [45:16] israel and the united states from your vantage point is that correct i don't always find myself in [45:23] agreement with british ambassadors but um enough to agree on this one i'd like to ask you about what you [45:30] know because in our conversations here the last couple of days we picked up some interesting suggestions [45:36] about this about china providing materially valuable military support to what remains of the iranian [45:43] regime true china gave a certain amount of support and particular components of missile manufacturing [45:57] but i can't say uh more than that does that disturb you well i didn't like it but i i i think that [46:06] uh i think that if china weighs its interests does it really want to have iran controlling the waterways [46:16] to supply the energy that china needs would it not prefer to have open waterways that are not subjected to [46:23] this kind of violent blackmail you know not everything is a zero-sum game just as uh you know if you look [46:32] about you think about it you know i'm talking about the brilliant future of ai but there's dangers in ai [46:38] a lot of dangers uh it's not it's not just a simple proposition so you have to advance the benefits [46:44] and contain the dangers would it not make sense and i'm sure it will for president trump and president [46:51] xi and their upcoming meeting to talk about advancing humanity's benefits out of ai but jointly controlling [46:59] the dangers that could be quite frightening so you know it's not everything is a zero-sum game and i [47:05] don't think everything is a zero-sum game when it comes to uh to iran do you really want to have a [47:13] fanatic regime with nuclear weapons that is committed to islamist revolutionary revolutions that's what [47:22] iran's constitution says we're committed to export the china should be so china should should think about [47:29] because it's apparently doing it right now could be could be i don't want to speak for china i don't [47:34] want to speak also but you have eyes and ears on this yeah well you know um but i also have a [47:43] closed mouth when necessary when you talk to my colleague leslie stall in 2016 you mentioned having [47:55] a conversation with president putin about syria saying we don't want an inadvertent clash between [48:01] israel and russia and you worked it out you said so in that interview how do you regard russia's support [48:07] for iran now materially and otherwise is that something that could create an inadvertent clash [48:12] between israel and russia over iran because of its existentially important to israel might it get [48:18] to that stage i think there was a lot of cooperation between them in the beginning phases of the ukraine [48:24] war because iran was supplying supplying drones right to but i mean russian support for iran now but i have [48:31] to tell you there's not been that much support i don't think it's because of us i think it's because [48:41] iran or rather russia maybe thinks that some of the things that iran does is not necessarily to its [48:49] favor but it's a mixed bag you know it's it's not a direct black and white you know sometimes they have [48:57] mixed interests so they support them on some things and don't support them on other things so you detect [49:02] minimal support from russia in this conflict you mean military support yes direct military support that's [49:09] not been uh a big issue how about intelligence support let me leave it to what i said let's go [49:22] to gaza real quick um again when you talk to tony de copo back in 2025 this was right after the board [49:28] of peace he said we have a chance after we're going to give cheap we're going to peace a chance [49:35] subsequently well we would have subsequently both the demilitarization and disarmament of hamas [49:41] hamas has to give up its arms you must make sure there's no weapons factories inside gaza [49:49] and there's no smuggling of weapons into gaza so four things disarmament achieved no okay demilitarization [49:58] no weapons factories reduced a lot smuggling into gaza to refit hamas that's really been [50:09] curtailed because we envelop hamas now in gaza we envelop and we cut off their supply route which [50:16] was the philadelphia corridor to the sinai and you know everybody was smuggling those weapons so two out [50:22] of two two out of four two out of four largely achieved but the first two was supposed to be [50:29] done by hamas that was part that's part of the 20-point deal right unachieved well hamas promised [50:35] to do it and we nag there you know violated the deal now what so somebody has to disarm them and somebody [50:43] has to then demilitarize gaza i would say disarm demilitarize de-radicalize because you don't want [50:51] these fanatics there is that israel's obligation or is that the international community's obligation [50:55] through the board of peace and some major major find me the countries who would do it i said this [51:01] to our american friends i said you know bring me it's okay bring me countries that are sending their [51:06] troops they're going to come into gaza and say to these killers give up your arms and you know what [51:12] those arms are it's not tanks or artillery it's kalashnikov rifles ak-47 which they terrorize their [51:21] people and extort money from them for inflated prices of goods which they took over so who's going [51:31] to do that you know if it comes down to us then we'll have to do it but we'll choose the time and [51:39] the circumstances in which to do it because you know we've got a few other things but we are not going [51:44] to let hamas ever threaten israel again and by the way their threat from gaza has been reduced we [51:51] still have a problem in lebanon with those rockets but hamas is not able to pose the threat to israel [51:59] now but you're right the disarmament and the demilitarization of hamas has not been done hamas has [52:06] violated its promise to do so to voluntarily do so it'll have to be done could be done the hard way [52:12] could be done the easy way i always prefer the easy way because unlike my caricature image having [52:20] been to war having seen the tragedy of war having experienced it in my own family you don't readily [52:29] dispatch people young men and sometimes young women into the battlefield so if we have a way to do it [52:36] we'll look at other ways as well you know though mr prime minister there is an impression about you [52:42] that is not exactly the opposite but that it is a hunger that people perceive in you for conflict [52:50] that's funny you know because for years i was considered right before the october 7th i was [52:59] considered perhaps the most restrained prime minister in israel's history i did embark on three [53:05] major operations in gaza but i didn't send our soldiers in there except to come up some tunnels [53:11] but i didn't want to send them in there because of what i told you so i was conceived as being [53:16] uh you know politically tough but militarily very restrained obviously it changed on october 7th [53:23] because they were going to annihilate us i didn't think it was just an attack by hamas i saw it as [53:29] it was an attack by the iran axis to try to annihilate us through a noose of death so i knew we'd had to [53:36] tackle hamas and then hezbollah and then the asad regime which we helped bring down and then iran itself [53:43] and the hutis that came later and i said on the second day of the war i said we're going to change [53:51] the middle east we're going to change this condition where they're ganging up on us thinking they're [53:57] going to wipe out the one and only jewish state wipe out 3 500 years of jewish history it's not going [54:02] to happen not on my watch and i said to the israeli citizens not on your watch they're so brave the [54:12] soldiers are so brave people are so brave that they said they they went with this and we were able to [54:22] perform miracles because of the strength of the people because of their sense of history understanding [54:29] that history and the almighty well it's not going to give the jewish people another change another [54:34] chance we came back from the dead from endless pogroms uh expulsions massacres and the holocaust we came [54:41] back are we going to yield to the ayatollahs and their murderous proxies no and this tiny country [54:48] emerged like a giant you know to to fight for its life but not only for our life major i want you to [54:56] know that in iran they named streets after me do you know that well after president trump too obviously [55:06] because he's leading the fight but they have this uh i don't speak farsi but they have to call me bibi [55:12] june beloved bibi bibi june they named public squares and as soon as they put the the you know [55:21] they put the signs on the the revolutionary guards stare down but they know that while we're fighting [55:29] for ourselves we're fighting for them too they know what few of the leaders in europe understand [55:36] that in fighting here we're preventing militant islam from taking over their countries which is a [55:43] process that unfortunately has preceded quite a lot they understand that so you know i'm i'm very proud [55:51] of the fact that the jewish people in israel and the non-jewish citizens of israel banded together [55:57] that we put aside our differences there are many we're a boisterous country we have divisions and so [56:03] on but at the moment of truth and in the moments of truth we stood up together against these barbarians [56:09] and we're fighting the battle of civilization against the barbarians who couldn't give a hoot about human [56:15] rights and who not only behead women but tear out the hearts i just saw this in syria by these islamists [56:25] they tear out the heart of a druz that's a non-islamist uh sect of a druz man lying out and they [56:36] eat the heart while the man is still twitching and you could say well okay everything is relative no it's [56:44] not this is evil pure evil and if we don't muster the will the resolve to stand up to this evil then we [56:54] don't have a future now if people accuse me of being militant and fighting this evil yes i'm [57:00] militant in that sense but i don't seek wars i've been through them i've been in battle i've seen [57:07] friends die in battle and you would reject any characterization of that i can't do very much [57:13] of that because you can get into the cell phones and you can repeat again and again that i'm a war [57:18] one remember what this prominent sometimes used yeah indiscriminate words discriminating as surgical [57:23] as any army has ever been in history not only with the beepers and not only with those leaders in [57:27] iran and not only but in lebanon and in gaza in lebanon and gaza yes we do everything we can to avoid [57:33] it we've killed 2 000 terrorists now since the beginning of the of this of the right of the roaring [57:41] lion epic fury and we've been very careful to target them but it's you know if people say that you're [57:48] a warmonger and if they repeated ad nauseum you know it assumes the cache of self-evident truth and [57:55] that's what's happening you get into their cell phone you get you get the bots to repeat it you [58:02] show a picture here a picture there of a tragedy for us in israel every civilian death is a tragedy [58:09] for our enemies it's a strategy they implant themselves among civilians you know so that they [58:15] have civilian casualties and they can put it on the tube or in your cell phone so yes i mean i don't know [58:22] how to fight it i mean churchill without cell phones and without digital campaigns and farm [58:28] bots was labeled a warmonger in the 1930s because he said you have to stand up to hitler and they [58:35] accused him of being a warmonger and hitler didn't even say death to america death to britain i think [58:41] he might have planned it but he didn't say it and still they accused him of that and he won the war and [58:46] lost a re-election he lost yeah it happened it happened you know there's no guarantee i mean i'm you [58:52] know when people that say to me oh you know i go in the streets and you know people have a lot of [58:58] support contrary to what people describe and they tell me bibi you're a king and i said you are you're [59:05] a king i said i'm not a king i have to get elected kings don't have to be elected i have to be elected [59:12] can i have your vote but but that's the reality you know you're you're maligned i think the difference [59:20] for the jewish people is this we've been maligned anti-semitism which has shown its ugly head recently [59:27] you see it in america you see it in europe you see it in australia we have these horrible attacks [59:32] including in the united states you know jews come down saw this beautiful couple in uh working for [59:40] our embassy in washington gone down right next to the entrance of the holocaust museum in washington [59:46] and they asked me what is this resurgence of anti-semitism and i i tell them that's exactly [59:53] what it is it's a resurgence for the two millennia in which we were flung to the far corners of the [1:00:01] earth the jewish people we suffered expulsion massacre in one country after the other we left [1:00:07] one country were massacred another left for another and always these massacres were preceded by vilification [1:00:17] by slanders uh you know we were spreading vermin we were you know i think probably the you know the [1:00:25] people that the jewish people has a lot of hygienic codes so to excuse us of spreading vermin poisoning [1:00:31] the whales all that stuff and that always preceded the the uh you know the uh the massacre now what [1:00:38] has happened since the rebirth of the jewish state is that anti-semitism this this vile vilification of [1:00:47] the jews took a reprieve after the holocaust took a reprieve took 80 years you know it wasn't [1:00:54] fashionable to be anti-semitic so you didn't say these things in polite society but it's come back [1:00:59] it's almost like it accompanies us throughout what is that about mr prime minister i think because i [1:01:05] want to stop you right there because in my career which started in 1990 in washington up until very [1:01:09] recently it was an established fact in congress established fact the republicans and democrats had a [1:01:17] default proposition favorable to israel not always not universally but a default proposition that [1:01:25] began with yes that's not true anymore that's less true than at any other time i've covered washington [1:01:33] that has to be reflective of something else yes it is well these are historical cycles which my father [1:01:40] historical cycle yes we are i mean anti-semitism is it didn't float yes but yeah i've been full but it [1:01:47] flowed throughout our our history and and the reason that you know but america's not a place where [1:01:52] things like that tend to come back well they can come back they were there in the 1930s yes father [1:01:59] coughlin and they ebb because of the war but it's come back what is it i think i think it's an interesting [1:02:06] question of why this happens and i think i think there's a natural human tendency between people [1:02:13] and also between people's collective groups it's called jealousy and jealousy often you know if [1:02:23] somebody is very successful you can be appreciative of them especially if it's a very successful and [1:02:31] strong country then you temper your jealousy and you go to respect but if so these are the embers of [1:02:39] envy i think it's part of it i don't think it explains all of it but i think it i think one thing i can [1:02:45] say is that there are many explanations for the uh for the phenomenon the durability of anti-semitism [1:02:53] over the ages my father was a great historian of this uh and and you you can we can have a separate [1:03:01] discussion on it but here's the difference difference is it seems to be an enduring flow which sometimes [1:03:09] ebbs as it did in the last 80 years since the holocaust and comes back even in the best of societies okay [1:03:15] it comes back and the difference now is that whereas before every time it came it was accompanied [1:03:23] by a physical massacre vilification the massacre now when they vilify the jewish state we don't let [1:03:31] the massacre happen we have the capacity to fight back we have valiant soldiers heroic soldiers who are [1:03:39] willing to protect the people that are standing up to rocket attacks ballistic missile attacks does that [1:03:44] intensify the envy then i think it elicits respect actually because that's what happens and i see [1:03:52] that with some of our arab neighbors that goes back to what we're saying this philosophy that you have [1:03:56] that when israel is strong it extinguishes the sense that it can be eliminated you know you might [1:04:03] think that we have this disrespect and this antagonism all over the world but that's not true [1:04:09] we had a visit here first of all many americans support israel respect israel have not succumbed to the [1:04:16] slanderous but the numbers are out of balance in ways they see correct and for the reason i told [1:04:19] you because i think there's been a concerted effort by several states uh to to basically vilify israel [1:04:28] in the uh so primarily in the social media and the standard media too but that's less effective the [1:04:33] effective thing is in the social media and we have uh we've not fought back yet so we will have to do [1:04:39] that but there are places in the world where israel elicits enormous respect one of them is india [1:04:47] india has only a billion point four people billion point four you know a billion and a half people [1:04:54] almost and israel is very popular in india very popular prime minister modi came here and he was [1:05:01] you know greeted with a great affection but you should see i was there with my wife sarah we visited [1:05:08] india it was a love fest and there are other countries too and let me tell you where that's [1:05:13] happening it's happening in some parts of the arab world now and people don't know that because [1:05:20] you know uh what does the new york times say it says all the news that's fit to print they just [1:05:27] don't print the news that doesn't fit that's what happens so you know uh and they're not the only ones [1:05:33] i mean but that's the story yes you have to tough it out yes you have to fight the information war [1:05:39] yes you have to speak about the justice of our cause yes you have to uh puncture the lies that are told [1:05:45] about us but ultimately you have to have the self-confidence to continue to develop your country to [1:05:52] continue to seek peace through strength with your neighbors to work with america to work with [1:05:59] president trump for the his vision of ending this thing with iran which i think will create a tremendous [1:06:06] wave of positive wave but all these things require a continuous effort you don't just you know i mean [1:06:15] the bible talks about you know the days will come you'll eat sit under your grapevine [1:06:20] uh everybody will uh you know uh scuttle their uh their swords and so on and uh the messiah will [1:06:31] arrive well perhaps but it's not going to happen next thursday right so until that happens until that [1:06:36] happy day reaches us we have to be free societies have to be strong and have to withstand a lot of [1:06:43] attacks including slanderous and political attacks you've mentioned october 7th nearly all the decision [1:06:51] makers in charge of security that day have either been fired or left defense minister head of the [1:06:57] military head of the intelligence head of the israeli secret service head of the israeli air force [1:07:03] next month the head of the massad the only one left is you what is your level of accountability or [1:07:10] responsibility for october 7th well some of them left because their term is up one or two [1:07:17] claimed they took responsibility but it's not clear what what does that mean you know what is their [1:07:22] responsibility let's look at the political echelon military echelon the security echelons let's look [1:07:29] down at everyone everybody bears some responsibility yeah from the top from the prime minister down now [1:07:38] let's establish an independent commission and i propose the bipartisan commission like the one created [1:07:45] after 9 11 after you had your horrible day and let's have this bipartisan commission produce any [1:07:55] witness any evidence anything they want that's how you get the truth out in a non-political way that's [1:08:02] my proposal and i think i'll be the first one to go there but i think the the real issue is okay that's [1:08:09] october up to october 7th what about since october 7th it was clearly my responsibility to get israel [1:08:17] out of this horrible noose of death that the iranians put on us and we did systematically very [1:08:24] resolutely go from one of these each one of these several fronts one after the other and roll back [1:08:33] the tide of terror and i'll tell you what our greatest accomplishment was and i can count them the [1:08:39] degradation of their nuclear program the degradation of their ballistic missile program the degradation of [1:08:43] their military industries the knocking out of their of their military command and political command [1:08:51] if i had to cite two things one on the operational level and one on the broader level on the [1:09:02] operational level i think the most pointed success is knocking out 20 top nuclear scientists who are [1:09:12] working on the atomic bombs to be used against israel america and anyone else and 12 were knocked out [1:09:20] in the first minute of operation roaring line rising line first minute and another eight were knocked out [1:09:30] in uh now in the present operation and i think taking out that amount of know-how it doesn't eliminate [1:09:37] the know-how but it sets them back does it mean that they can't produce a device they can't you know [1:09:44] no but it means that if they plan this arsenal of nuclear atomic bombs that they thought they'd have [1:09:50] by now that's gone it's been back they don't have an atomic arsenal but they would have had it and we [1:09:59] would have faced certain death so the greatest accomplishment is we're alive they didn't destroy [1:10:08] us and they're not going to destroy us next month because we didn't take that action a year ago [1:10:13] and in the in the intermittent operation and that's true for you too they don't have the ability to [1:10:19] destroy us now we were saved you know people say how many people were killed in this or that operation [1:10:25] israel is a country of 10 million you know one of the uh iranian leaders said it's a one bomb country [1:10:32] we're not going to let them have that one bomb that's a tremendous accomplishment but the other [1:10:37] one is this the other one is that we broke the barrier of fear for 47 years iran has been bullying [1:10:48] everybody inside they've been murdering people across the swath of the middle east and beyond [1:10:54] they've been sending terror everywhere they've been attacking us and so many others and they seem to be [1:11:00] with immunity they can immunity and impunity they can go on doing this because it was clear everybody [1:11:07] understood you cannot fight iran on iran's territory that was a given and we changed it and we had our [1:11:17] brave pilots and your brave pilots over the skies of tehran over the skies of iran that changed that [1:11:25] broke that mask of invincibility and once that happens once that happens that regime i think their days [1:11:33] are numbered but it could take a lot of days i grant you that and if you say how long would it take [1:11:39] this war i think a lot has been accomplished in a very short time it's not going to take years [1:11:48] it may not take months it better not take months it may not take months it depends you know it depends [1:11:55] a lot i don't want to put a schedule on it i think there's a mission schedule there are goals to be [1:12:00] achieved but so far i think an enormous amount has been done in a very short time i want to ask you about [1:12:07] some developments recently here cardinal pisabala faced obstacles to pray on easter there was a [1:12:17] defacement of a crucifix in lebanon there was an assault on a nun in jerusalem this appears to the [1:12:26] eyes of some as a trend line of hostility to christians how do you respond to that what is your [1:12:34] attitude about it what are you going to do about it it's the complete opposite it's one of those [1:12:40] incredible fabrications if you look at the middle east the only place where the community the christian [1:12:45] community has not really survived but thrived grew it's in israel in every other arab country surrounding [1:12:53] us they've been you know they've been squished squashed sometimes massacred but their numbers these [1:13:01] are anomalies these things are not only anomalies these are things that go contrary to our ethos to [1:13:08] our respect for christianity after all this is this country is the birthplace of christianity which [1:13:14] obviously emerged from judeo-christian roots you know that i know that intimately because i know the [1:13:20] history and my father's great historian teacher was a man who wrote two seminal books jesus of nazareth [1:13:29] and from jesus to paul but when that happens okay that guy that soldier who did that who [1:13:37] uh uh you know violated not violated but tore down a crucifix he's in jail that guy who attacked an [1:13:46] nun he's on trial that uh the cardinal the cardinal the first thing i heard about it the policeman was [1:13:54] saying i don't want to have anybody on any site our holy sites the jewish sites the christian sites and [1:14:03] the muslim sites when we were being attacked by missiles we knew that iran attacked the uh near [1:14:11] the temple near the temple mount where all these sites are there we didn't want people to die so [1:14:17] this guy you know said oh we're not letting people in i said well you know you can make an exception for [1:14:24] the third ranking man in the catholic church so i intervened immediately and opened the doors so you [1:14:30] know a policeman trying to do his duty wrong a soldier doing something that he shouldn't have done [1:14:36] he's in jail and the same thing in the other case bad things happen yeah but they are so opposite of [1:14:44] what we have i just met with some 50 young christian soldiers men and women in the army of israel [1:14:53] serving to defend you know they they volunteer they're heroes and they fight along their jewish comrades [1:15:00] why do they do it because they know what i've just said is so true and they say how can people [1:15:04] say that about israel it's the one country that values and protects christianity you know there's [1:15:11] a town in bethlehem the birthplace of jesus okay when we controlled it it was 80 percent christian when [1:15:18] we did the oslo accords we handed over bethlehem to the palestinian authority so we no longer control [1:15:23] it guess what happened in the intervening years it went from 80 percent christian to 20 percent christian [1:15:30] 80 percent muslim right now because the christians have basically been driven out israel is the one [1:15:36] country in the middle east that protects christians that values christians that embraces christianity [1:15:43] we have common roots we appreciate them there's an attempt not only to falsify our common history [1:15:49] but also to falsify current events to seize on these these aberrations and pretend that this is [1:15:56] israeli policy that's ridiculous one last thing because we talked a lot about this the bots the [1:16:02] social media is it your belief mr prime minister that nothing that israel has done tactically or [1:16:09] strategically has made no mistakes either in gaza or the west bank that have in their own way [1:16:16] contributed to this negative impression of israel whether it's on social media or someplace else [1:16:22] no of course look it's war and in war armies sometimes miss civilians die and these are mistakes [1:16:34] these are not deliberate things that happen but i can say this every in every battle your forces in [1:16:42] fallujah or in afghanistan or in other places they've had encountered similar things and often much greater [1:16:50] casualties in proportion but i can say that we have gone to incredible efforts the israeli army has done [1:16:59] incredible efforts to be as surgical as possible but that doesn't mean that we don't make mistakes of [1:17:05] course we do i mean i've been in battle i've seen this myself you try but you don't always succeed so [1:17:12] no the answer is of course we've made mistakes but we seek to minimize civilian casualties as no other [1:17:19] army has done in history no other army it's part of our value it's part of our convictions it's part of [1:17:26] our training it's what we impart to our soldiers and you know it pains me to see that israel that it [1:17:32] goes to these lenses vilified in this sense too but again you can say anything because it's this this is [1:17:39] yours right you're not immune either because you can penetrate this machine you can penetrate this [1:17:48] this little instrument and you can say about major garrett anything you want and i can paint you as a [1:17:57] monster and if i say it often enough enough enough people will believe it i am am not bemoaning this [1:18:05] i'm stating this as a fact israel is besieged on the media front on the propaganda front and we've [1:18:12] not done well on the propaganda war we have to fight back against these lies this propaganda with the only [1:18:19] weapon we have it's the truth i'm trying to do that now and we'll try to do that in a much greater [1:18:27] effort because we've left the battlefield to our enemies and boy do they lie all it's been a pleasure [1:18:39] thank you thank you very much thank you