Israel's UN ambassador says IDF is 'most moral military in the world'

[0:00] the israeli military said it intercepted rocket fire that crossed into northern israel from [0:05] lebanon today hezbollah said the attack was in retaliation for israel violating the 10-day [0:10] ceasefire that took effect last week an extension to which president trump announced earlier now [0:16] earlier this week we brought you an exclusive interview with the senior hezbollah leader who [0:21] rejected israel's demand to disarm tonight we're joined by israel's ambassador to the u.n [0:27] danny dannon mr ambassador welcome to the program thank you for having me jeff so president trump [0:33] as you know a short time ago announced a three-week extension of the ceasefire between israel and [0:38] lebanon specifically hezbollah as we sit here and speak details are few what more can you tell us [0:46] first we welcome the direct talks between israel and lebanon you know we have the same goal we all [0:52] want to get rid of hezbollah we want to see sovereign lebanon controlling the territory of lebanon [0:59] and as we speak we see that hezbollah is trying to create chaos attack israeli communities in the [1:05] northern part of israel and again try to ignite another cycle of violence we will continue the [1:14] talks with the lebanese we are grateful for the u.s for their involvement but but we have to acknowledge [1:19] that hezbollah should not be a part of this equation they shouldn't be in southern lebanon they [1:25] shouldn't be part of the lebanese government they are the one who's throwing chaos in the region when [1:31] the president says the u.s will help lebanon protect itself from hezbollah what does that look like in [1:38] practice beyond what's already being done well we all acknowledge the weakness of the lebanese [1:44] government you know we welcome the statements coming from beirut about kicking out the ambassador of [1:52] iran but he's still there about gaining control over southern lebanon but it is not the case hezbollah [1:58] is still there so there's a huge gap jeff between the declarations and the abilities or the actions [2:04] of the lebanese government and i think the u.s and other countries who wants to to help lebanon should [2:10] they help them actually have control over the situation that they can actually mobilize the [2:16] military and be effective you know if they are not controlling the military they will not be able [2:23] to change much a question about israel's military action i want to play video from april 8th when [2:29] israeli forces struck more than 150 locations simultaneously across lebanon killing more than 300 [2:36] people wounding more than a thousand others when israel targets hezbollah in dense urban areas as was [2:43] the case here how does it determine what level level of civilian casualties is considered acceptable so [2:52] first we try to minimize civilian casualties period unlike hezbollah was doing exactly the opposite they [2:58] target communities we actually gave notice to many communities to evacuate south of lebanon and many [3:06] people left south of lebanon and we are we welcome that because it allows us to to attack hezbollah [3:13] without risking civilians and we will continue to do our best to minimize civilian casualties but we [3:20] have also to admit jeff that hezbollah is hiding behind civilians they are hiding behind u.n facilities [3:27] they're launching rockets from those places and we have the the right to defend ourselves so we will [3:33] continue to do that we will continue to fight terrorist organizations we saw it also in gaza in [3:40] the past with hamas they're trying to use civilians as human shields but we will do our best to minimize [3:46] civilian casualties and to your point we know that hezbollah does indeed embed itself in civilian areas so [3:53] how many civilian deaths per hezbollah target is acceptable is it five is it ten is it 300 or is [4:00] there no ceiling at all well without going into the numbers but i will tell you that before each attack [4:07] we have a legal team that actually looks at the intelligence we have and and then reach the decision [4:13] regarding the attack so we don't just attack the process in the idf and i think we have the most moral [4:20] military in the world if you compare our actions to other militaries that engage in the past with terrorist [4:26] organizations it's not easy for us and as i said earlier we want to have peace with the lebanese [4:32] people we pray for that day you know when i was a child we used to call the fence between israel and [4:38] lebanon we call it the good fence because they were good neighbors but unfortunately a lot changed [4:45] since that day and today we have to deal with hezbollah that is trying to hijack lebanon the lebanese [4:51] journalist amal khalil was killed yesterday in an israeli strike lebanon's prime minister responded by [4:57] saying that israel's targeting of journalists and this is a quote is no longer isolated incidents but [5:03] has become an established approach the committee to protect journalists has documented a pattern of [5:08] journalists killed by israeli strikes what military objective is served by killing reporters well i i beg to [5:17] differ there about your question you know it's biased with all due respect we are not targeting [5:23] reporters period unfortunately if you have reporters who are next to hezbollah terrorists or hezbollah [5:30] bunkers or hezbollah launchers those incidents happen and we regret that but to accuse israel that we target [5:38] reporters you know that's a blood libel you know what are we actually implying excuse me sir tell [5:44] intelligence excuse me you gather intelligence i take issue i take issue i take issue with that sir [5:49] reporters and not to kill terrorists of hezbollah you you say that israel does not target journalists [5:55] amal khalil is dead cpj has documented a growing pattern of of targeted israeli attacks in lebanon [6:03] where 15 journalists and media workers have been killed by israel since the october 7th attacks your [6:10] government continues to state that israel does not target journalists but my question is simple [6:16] at what number of dead journalists does that answer become one that the international community can [6:21] no longer accept jeff it's outrageous when you say we target journalists you imply that we have the [6:29] intention to kill journalists and and that's a lie you know you should ask the other questions where were [6:36] those journalists during the time of the attack where they were spending their time maybe they were next [6:43] to hezbollah terrorists and that's why they were in line of fire unfortunately do you know that to be [6:48] true do you know that to be true i'll tell you one thing do you know that to be true sir we will focus [6:55] our efforts our abilities our intelligence targeting hezbollah terrorist period we are not doing it [7:02] against civilians and for sure not against reporters danny danone thank you for your time this evening we [7:10] appreciate it thank you jeff support journalism you trust support pbs news donate now or even better [7:30] start a monthly contribution today [7:39] you [7:41] you [7:43] you [7:45] you [7:53] you [7:55] you