Transcription
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says assassinating Iran's Supreme Leader wouldn't escalate the conflict, but he says it would calm it. He made those remarks during an interview with American network ABC News.
US officials tell us that the president flatly rejected a plan, an opportunity that the EU and the Israelis had to take out the Supreme Leader. Uh, do you understand his concern?
My understanding is his concern is that this would escalate the conflict beyond where it is already. It's not going to escalate the conflict. It's going to end the conflict. We've had half a century of conflict spread by this regime that terrorizes everyone in the Middle East, has bombed the Aramco oil fields in Saudi Arabia, is spreading terrorism and subversion and sabotage everywhere. That's the forever war—is what Iran wants.
Right. Let's go to Mr. Gideon Levy, a columnist at the Harat newspaper, joining us live now from Tel Aviv. Thank you for your time. We just heard there from the Israeli prime minister saying that it will actually ease the situation. What do you make of that comment?
It's very hard to tell because there is so much manipulation now in all those expressions of everyone and fake news. Obviously, the matter of fact is that both parties are right now not capable of stopping this war and they need some foreign leverage to make it happen, namely the Americans. And the Americans seem to be quite passive. Donald Trump seems to be quite uninterested in what's going on here. And as long as this is the case, this war will go on, and not only go on but also escalate.
You say he seems to be uninterested. However, Donald Trump has said that when this first started, the attacks on Iran, that Iran has the choice to make a deal. So is that his ultimate aim—to make a deal that works in the US's favor? And what is that exactly?
Yes, Iran can get back to the negotiation table, but it will not do it under circumstances which will be perceived by them as a total defeat for them. Honor, national honor is very important. They will not humiliate themselves and they rather continue if it will not be a reasonable offer. Now, I'm not sure that Israel is interested now in stopping it because Israel feels that there are still goals to be achieved. It's another question if those goals are achievable at all and if it's worth the horrible price that both sides are paying now. But in any case, it takes some pressure in order to move it. And I don't see, maybe I'm wrong, but my impression is that Donald Trump is not rushing.
Uh, Mr. Gideon Levy, is Israel trying to change the power play here in the region? At the moment, it's a nuclear country as well as Iran. Does it want to be the only one? Because even though we say that it's—they—Israel says it's attacking the nuclear program, but it's also clearly going for regime change, but what is the ultimate goal here?
So you see, Sarah, nobody admits it, but obviously the regime change is the wet dream of Israel. Like it was the wet dream of the Americans in Vietnam. Like it was the wet dream of the Americans in Afghanistan. Like it was the wet dream of Israel in Gaza, in Lebanon. It never succeeds. It will not succeed this time and we should really forget it.
I guess my question is: Netanyahu's what's his reasoning to get rid of the regime? Does this help him domestically? Is this really purely about him and his leadership or is there more to it with Israel wanting more power within the region and perhaps to push for things like normalization of relations?
So first of all, I would give Netanyahu the credit that on this phase he doesn't think only about himself and only about his personal interest or domestic politics. It is very true about the war in Gaza but not in Iran because that's his life project. That's his claim to fame. He is fighting over preventing Iran from nuclear weapons for decades. Right or wrong? That's another question. Now, I think that the main goal is, as it sounds, to prevent Iran from having nuclear weapons in order not to threaten the security of Israel. That's the way he sees it. And I don't think that it goes much beyond it. The matter of fact is that the only way to achieve it is by changing the regime because this regime will not give up nuclear power because they know that that's their guarantee to stay in power. But this goal is unachievable in my view.
Okay. Thank you very much, Mr. Gideon Levy in Tel Aviv.
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