Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with ABC News’ Linsey Davis

[0:00] Despite the ceasefire collapsing in the last few days, President Trump seems eager to still have a diplomatic solution to end the war in Iran. [0:09] He says that Iran wants to make a deal. Is he right? [0:13] Well, I hope so. I mean, he's got basically three options. [0:17] One, to indeed succeed making a deal. [0:20] Two, to continue the blockade. [0:22] Three, to take military action. [0:25] Anything that will produce the end of Iran's nuclear program is what we want. [0:30] That's our common goal. We talked about it. [0:32] When you met with President Trump at the White House, did you try to persuade him to resume attacks on Iran? [0:37] Actually not. That's the caricature, the cartoon picture. That is not true. [0:42] We actually analyzed all three possibilities, and I thought we did it in an open way between friends and allies. [0:51] And it's his decision. It's his decision. [0:54] I think the important thing is we have a common goal. [0:56] And the common goal is to make sure that this regime, that chants death to America, that has murdered and maimed over 40,000 of its own citizens, [1:07] that is shooting at every country in sight, and that has wreaked havoc on the international economy, that it doesn't get nuclear weapons. [1:15] You said just yesterday that you think that a diplomatic solution is unlikely. [1:20] Why do you think that you all have such different assessments of the outcome here? [1:25] Well, I don't know if it's unlikely, but I'm skeptical about Iran's mode of operandus, I mean, the method of operating. [1:34] They always lie. They always cheat. And they always play for time. [1:39] Could that, with insufficient pressure, diplomatic, economic pressure, could that change? Give it a try. [1:46] Is your goal still regime change? [1:49] My goal is to make sure that Iran, with this regime, doesn't have nuclear weapons. [1:53] And that's something that President Trump and I both agree on, because it would be a different world. [2:00] They're different from other countries, other societies. [2:03] They have no compunction at murdering their own. You've seen that. [2:07] They have no compunction at pursuing the death of this great country or the elimination of my country. [2:15] That's what they do. [2:16] If Iran does strike Israel, how will you respond? [2:21] I think they'll make a terrible mistake and will respond very, very forcefully. [2:26] Earlier this month, President Trump said in an interview with a reporter that in the relationship with you, [2:32] you know who the boss is, meaning that it's him. He's the one calling the shots. [2:37] Do you see it that way? [2:38] Well, you know, in America, often they say that Trump does everything I say. [2:44] And in Israel, they often say that I do everything he says. [2:48] And sometimes, you know, these things are expressed in the public discussion by anyone, including the president. [2:56] But the truth is, we're partners. We're allies. [2:59] He's the senior partner. It's the United States of America, let's not forget. [3:04] And I'm the junior partner, but I'm the prime minister of Israel. [3:07] And when I have to stand up for the interests of my country and the security of my country, I do so. [3:14] But I always do so with a deep appreciation of the role that the United States under President Trump has played in joining forces with us against our common enemy that wants to destroy us both. [3:28] The New York Times reports that before the war began, that you told President Trump that Iran's ballistic missile program could be destroyed in just a few weeks, [3:37] that it could be done without the Strait of Hormuz being shut down, and that there could be regime change. [3:44] Now, here we are more than five months into this war. [3:47] They still have the missiles. [3:49] The regime is still intact. [3:51] And essentially, the Strait of Hormuz is shut down. [3:56] Why would you say that your early assessment was so off? [3:59] That wasn't my early assessment, and that's an incorrect statement of what I said. [4:03] I thought that we have to act to make sure that Iran doesn't get nuclear weapons, because if we don't, it's like having a cancer. [4:11] And if you don't take it out, you're going to die. [4:14] We're discussing how to make sure that it doesn't come back, it doesn't metastasize. [4:19] That's the first thing. [4:20] As far as the regime, I said we could create the conditions to make this regime a lot weaker. [4:28] But it's up to the people of Iran, in the end, to take their own destiny in their own hands. [4:35] I think Iran is weaker than ever before. [4:38] I think Israel is stronger than ever before. [4:40] But I can't tell you that the regime has already collapsed. [4:42] It's not. [4:43] But I'll make a prediction. [4:44] I think after such a chasm between the people and the regime, after this mass murder, I think this regime will eventually fall. [4:53] Did you anticipate that Iran would use the Strait of Hormuz in the way that it is to essentially choke off much of the world's oil supply? [5:03] You know, I thought they could do it. [5:04] But I thought they'd also have to consider what would be the consequences if they do it. [5:08] And nobody could predict that with accuracy. [5:10] After this war is over, I don't think the Straits are going to be that powerful a leverage. [5:18] Because people will move the energy pipelines out of the Straits to the Red Sea, from there to Israel and the Mediterranean. [5:28] We can unblock this choke point. [5:30] And we will. [5:30] How do you respond, though, to your critics who say that you intentionally misled President Trump to get the U.S. involved in this war? [5:38] No, I didn't mislead anything. [5:40] And the president didn't need to have, you know, nobody tells President Trump what to do. [5:45] And when I met him before the second term, before, he was already elected, but he wasn't yet, he didn't yet take office. [5:52] And I went to see him in Mar-a-Lago. [5:54] And the first thing he said to me, I have to make sure that Iran doesn't have nuclear weapons. [6:03] So it's not, I didn't tell him that. [6:05] He told me that. [6:07] Because he understands the great peril that America will be thrust into if that doesn't happen. [6:12] So when we talked about the fact that after Midnight Hammer, after the first attack that we had, [6:19] that Khamenei, the dictator of Iran, was intending to, not to stop the nuclear program, but to refurbish it [6:28] and to put it underground in a place where it's, you know, you can't reach it, [6:32] we both understood that we had to take action. [6:35] You recently said that the U.S.-Israel relationship is like a wall of granite [6:40] and there are just some people who are looking to find cracks in it. [6:43] But as you know, American support for Israel is plummeting, according to a recent poll. [6:51] 32% of Americans look at your government favorably. [6:55] That's a 15-point drop in just the last four years. [6:59] When you think of it like that, do you think that Israel has a messaging problem, [7:04] an image problem, or a policy problem? [7:06] I think there's been a change because of the proliferation of social media [7:10] and the fact that sovereign countries have manipulated with bought farms and other things. [7:19] And we can see a direct relationship between the proliferation of the social media [7:23] and the decline in support for Israel. [7:27] Now, I'm not telling you that the war in Gaza and the way that it was misrepresented here [7:30] and the lies that were put forward, that that didn't influence this. [7:34] It did, unfortunately. [7:35] But I am saying that those who hate Israel hate America, [7:41] and those who hate America hate Israel. [7:43] And I think that it's a larger issue that is being, [7:46] a larger battle that is being waged here for the soul, [7:50] the heart and soul of young Americans. [7:53] I think that's, it's a broader thing. [7:55] Does it concern me? [7:56] Yes. [7:57] Yes, it does. [7:58] And I want bipartisan support for Israel [8:01] because I think that's a fundament of our national security. [8:04] But doesn't it go beyond social media? [8:06] Because you have genocide scholars, [8:08] you have humanitarian groups, [8:09] the United Nations who have all said that Israel has committed war crimes. [8:13] So would you say that you bear any responsibility? [8:17] Not for war crimes. [8:17] I think that's, that's hogwash. [8:19] I mean, what, they say genocide, right? [8:22] Okay. [8:22] Well, first of all, who says genocide? [8:25] The, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court [8:29] who came up with this. [8:31] Genocide is the attempt to wipe out a people. [8:36] The, the, the actual attempt and plan to wipe out a people [8:40] and the actual action that you do. [8:42] In Gaza, they accuse us of genocide. [8:45] We sent millions of text messages [8:47] and millions of phone calls [8:50] and millions of leaflets [8:52] telling Palestinians, civilians, [8:55] get out of harm's way [8:56] so that we can take out the Hamas terrorists [9:00] who are embedded in your schools, [9:01] your hospitals, your communities. [9:03] Hamas stopped the civilians from leaving at gunpoint. [9:07] Clearly, and that's how we got civilian casualties [9:09] that eventually went down, I'm happy to say. [9:11] Why did we do that? [9:14] If we had this genocidal intent, [9:17] we obviously didn't. [9:18] It's the exact opposite. [9:19] The genocidal intent was Hamas. [9:23] They wanted those civilians killed [9:24] so they can go on TV [9:26] or go to the international, [9:28] the corrupt international criminal court [9:30] and accuse us of war crimes. [9:32] But that's not us. [9:33] We value every civilian life. [9:35] Every civilian life lost is a tragedy. [9:38] And we'll do, you know, so far, [9:40] we've incurred a lot fewer civilians [9:44] to combatants lost [9:46] than just about in any urban warfare [9:48] in modern times. [9:49] If you feel that what's happening in Gaza [9:51] is being misrepresented, [9:52] why not allow journalists in [9:53] independent of Israeli forces? [9:56] Yeah, we do, I think, sometimes. [9:57] But the problem there is it's a war zone. [10:00] Still rockets are flying, [10:01] mines are exploding, [10:03] there are terror tunnels [10:03] out of which terrorists emerge. [10:06] And what do you do [10:06] when journalists get killed? [10:08] But I think people, you know, [10:11] you can see what's happening. [10:12] We don't hide it. [10:13] I mean, anybody can use a Google map [10:14] to find out exactly what is happening. [10:17] This war was prompted [10:21] by the worst assault on Jews [10:25] since the Holocaust [10:26] with, you know, the raping [10:30] and beheading of women [10:32] and the burning of babies [10:34] and the slaughter of our men [10:36] and the taking of hundreds of hostages, [10:38] men, women, and children [10:40] by these killers [10:42] who proceeded also [10:44] to cause casualties [10:47] among Palestinian civilians. [10:48] They don't care [10:49] about Palestinian civilians. [10:50] You know, they have [10:51] this whole tunnel network [10:52] underneath Gaza. [10:55] They wouldn't let the civilians [10:55] go in there. [10:56] So that's what we're fighting. [10:58] And where's the world? [11:00] We're fighting these horrible, [11:02] massacring terrorists. [11:03] And I find in New York [11:05] that the mayor of New York, [11:08] his family, [11:10] they don't condemn them. [11:11] I understand that members [11:12] of his family actually celebrated [11:14] the October 7th massacre. [11:16] What? [11:17] Against this democracy, Israel, [11:19] that is being vilified, [11:21] lied about, [11:23] described as war crimes. [11:25] We're fighting your battle. [11:27] You know, Iran wants to destroy you. [11:29] We're a model democracy [11:30] fighting against the barbarians. [11:32] And in New York City, [11:34] the mayor of New York City [11:35] celebrates the barbarians. [11:38] And a day later, [11:39] a day later, [11:43] a Jew is stabbed, [11:46] you know, stabbed, [11:47] coming out of a synagogue. [11:49] I don't think that's accidental. [11:50] We should remember [11:51] who are the good guys [11:52] and who are the bad guys. [11:53] We're fighting with you, [11:55] shoulder to shoulder, [11:56] with brave American soldiers [11:57] to prevent barbarism from winning. [12:00] Vice President J.D. Vance [12:02] recently told Joe Rogan [12:03] that Israel is attempting [12:05] to undermine the end [12:06] to the war in Iran. [12:08] And I want to quote him. [12:09] He said that people in your system [12:11] are manipulating [12:12] and trying to change [12:13] American public opinion [12:14] to keep the war going on. [12:15] How do you respond to that? [12:17] Well, we're not, actually. [12:18] And I had a very good conversation [12:19] with the vice president [12:20] this morning. [12:22] And I think we straightened that out [12:24] because we're not. [12:25] That's not our policy. [12:27] Individuals in our system [12:29] can have their opinions, [12:30] but government policy [12:32] is dictated by me, [12:33] and that's not our policy. [12:33] Palestinians in the West Bank, [12:36] many of them say [12:37] that they're at a breaking point [12:38] because of increased violence. [12:40] As you know, [12:41] a number of Palestinian Americans [12:42] have died in some of those clashes. [12:45] Why can't your government [12:46] prevent that from happening? [12:48] I think we have. [12:49] I mean, look, [12:49] there have been about [12:50] a thousand terrorist attempts [12:51] from Palestinians [12:53] in the territories [12:54] against our civilians, [12:56] men, women, children, [12:58] families that drive along the roads [12:59] and they're machine-gunned [13:01] by these terrorists. [13:01] So we've been able [13:02] to prevent a lot of that. [13:04] Sometimes there are hot-headed, [13:08] basically juvenile delinquents, [13:09] about 150 in number, [13:11] that try to, [13:12] I don't call it [13:13] take the law [13:13] into their own hands [13:14] because I think vigilantism [13:16] is against the law, [13:18] and we're taking action [13:19] against them. [13:19] But put it in proportion, [13:21] the vast majority [13:22] of the settler community, [13:24] 99.9%, [13:25] are law-abiding citizens. [13:28] We have to live in peace [13:29] side by side. [13:30] But we confront terror [13:31] where we can, [13:32] and we certainly, [13:33] I will certainly not tolerate [13:34] vigilantism on our side. [13:36] I don't. [13:37] Do you support [13:37] a Palestinian state? [13:39] No, I'll tell you why not. [13:40] Because we had one. [13:42] It's called Gaza. [13:44] And in fact, [13:45] it was a de facto [13:46] Palestinian state. [13:48] And what was it used for? [13:49] To launch this horrible [13:51] massacre against us, [13:53] Hamas says openly [13:55] that it's out to destroy [13:57] every Jew, [13:58] kill every Jew in the world, [13:59] kill every Jew in Israel. [14:01] The Palestinian Authority [14:02] on the other side [14:03] supposedly their rivals, [14:04] said that they're out [14:05] for the dissolution of Israel. [14:07] It would be a state [14:08] that would conduct war [14:09] against us, [14:11] which will bring about [14:12] the demise of the Jewish state. [14:15] So you want peace [14:16] with the Palestinians, [14:17] but not at the expense [14:18] of our survival. [14:20] Nobody wants to commit [14:20] national suicide. [14:22] So last question for you. [14:23] Our show recently did a story [14:25] about a father of eight [14:26] living in Gaza. [14:27] He has a three-year-old daughter [14:29] who he said barely can get food, [14:31] has no education, [14:32] there's no future. [14:33] He described their family [14:35] as being buried alive [14:37] in the Gaza Strip. [14:38] And so really a two-parter. [14:40] What is your plan [14:41] for the Palestinian people? [14:43] And when you look [14:44] at these images of Gaza, [14:46] is there anything [14:46] you would have done differently? [14:49] Well, you can always [14:49] do things differently, [14:50] but I think the most important thing [14:52] is you have to make sure [14:53] that you have to get rid of Hamas. [14:56] I mean, Hamas is [14:57] a terrorist organization [14:59] that if you have Palestinians [15:00] who want to live [15:02] in peace with Israel, [15:03] they take them to the town square [15:04] and they put a bullet [15:05] in the back of their head. [15:06] That's what they do. [15:07] It's a killer organization. [15:09] You have Palestinians in Gaza [15:11] who are now fighting Hamas [15:12] because they want a different life. [15:14] They want a life of freedom. [15:15] They have to toe the line [15:16] with Hamas, [15:18] succumb to their horrible cruelties [15:20] and their violence, [15:22] and certainly not be allowed [15:23] to go somewhere else [15:25] if they so wish. [15:26] I think they should have [15:26] the freedom of choice [15:27] and I think they should have [15:29] freedom of terror. [15:29] And for that, [15:30] Hamas has to be disarmed [15:32] and Gaza has to be demilitarized. [15:34] That's our plan. [15:35] Disarm, demilitarize Gaza [15:37] and de-radicalize it. [15:39] That's what is needed [15:40] to happen in Gaza [15:41] to give them a new life [15:43] and to give a chance for peace. [15:45] Prime Minister, thank you. [15:47] Thank you. [15:47] I really appreciate it. [15:48] Thank you. [15:49] In response to Prime Minister Netanyahu, [15:52] New York City Mayor Mamdani's office [15:54] referred us to his comments [15:55] earlier this week [15:56] where he said that he was, [15:57] quote, not interested [15:58] in getting into a back and forth [16:00] with Israel's leader [16:01] and called keeping Jewish [16:02] New Yorkers safe [16:03] one of his top priorities. [16:04] He has also repeatedly called [16:06] the October 7th attack [16:07] by Hamas a, quote, [16:08] horrific war crime.