Transcription
Clearly, there is no fully baked deal yet. But does Israel believe that this trajectory is bringing us toward a place that is more optimal than the JCPoA agreement of 2015? Thank you for having me, Kailey. We are only at the beginning of the process. I think it's premature to degrade the process when he just started.
We are confident that President Trump will stick to his commitment not to allow Iran to achieve nuclear capability. But one thing he was mentioning now that you shouldn't make any concessions too early, too soon. When you deal with the Iranians, you have to keep the cards close to your heart before you put them on the table. You know, we know that when you view ambassador, the waiving of sanctions already is too early a concession. We know that Iranians, you know, we know their intentions. And I want to bring you back to 2018, when Mossad agents actually went into Iran and retrieved the archive from Tehran, the nuclear archive. We found out that when they were negotiating with President Obama back then, they were lying before the beginning. So you shouldn't believe what they are saying. You need to have leverage. Leverage on them. Meaning a military threat to economic sanctions. If you have no leverage and you get to the final stages of the negotiations, it's going to be very hard to make them commit. You know, and I heard the report earlier about the inspections. You know, I once signed the NPT agreement, the Non-Proliferation Treaty, back in 1968. So technically they should have inspectors that would speak. And we know that they kicked them a while ago. So you have to be very careful when you're dealing with the Iranians.
Well, of course, Israel is going to play an enormous role in whatever deal is struck here and whether this works. And, of course, we look no further than Lebanon for questions about this. And it came up. Israel's struggle against Hezbollah in Lebanon came up in the Oval Office, ambassador, a short time ago with a reporter asking about Benjamin Netanyahu's pledge to stay in Lebanon until Lebanon's army can essentially relieve Israeli forces. I want our audience to hear what the president said, and we'll have you respond. Let's listen to the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his forces are not leaving. Not enough. That is a sticking point and detail that to you is he said it publicly in Israel. Well, what they're saying, a look at what would you do to make sure that, you know, well, I'm not going to tell you what I'm going to do. But he gets up because I'm a problem solver. I get problems out real fast, including with Bibi.
Ambassador, I don't know what the solution is that the president is referring to there, but do you believe the Lebanese army is anywhere near being ready to relieve the Israeli military? We have no beef with Lebanon. On the contrary, it talks with the Lebanese government. We will come to the statements in the last few weeks. And actually, we have Lebanon's military capable of fighting Hezbollah, though, on behalf of anyone of Israel or its own country, though unfortunately, it's not the case. But what we are seeing now that we are capable of fighting through the battle, but we are not eager to stay in Lebanon. So I think we will negotiate directly with the Lebanese. The mechanism that we will actually allow the Lebanese military to assume positions that we actually cleared for them. And, you know, something very interesting is happening now. You see that the Iranians are trying to interfere again. You know what is happening in Lebanon, not allowing the Lebanese government to gain control. I think it is about time that there will be one government, one military in Lebanon. And I think we can get a very fast, you know, they speak with them about the negotiations, even about a peace deal in the future. But it would be without Iran. Iran is not supporting stability in Lebanon. On the contrary, they want to sow chaos. They want to support Hezbollah. They shouldn't. It shouldn't be part of any equation in Lebanon.
We've heard, ambassador, from President Trump repeatedly in recent days talking about Israel's operations in Lebanon, knowing that the intent is to target Hezbollah, but saying things like, you don't need to bring down a whole apartment building to do so. Is Israel considering changing the way it goes about these operations in Lebanon or anywhere specifically, given the words of the president? First, we have very strong relationship with the president. You know, we speak with these people. The direct communication between Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Trump. But we know that to fight terrorism is a challenge. They are hiding behind civilians. You know, two days ago, we found in southern Lebanon, not too far away from our border, Hezbollah with five tons of explosives and drones and hundreds of weapons. So we know exactly what they are planning to do. They want to attack. They want to create a situation like we had with Hamas that are coming next to the border. And one morning we wake up and see them crossing the border. We cannot allow that. So we will push back. But, you know, we have the same goal. We want to see the Lebanese military in the area. We don't want to see Unifil forces. We don't want to see international forces, for sure, not Hezbollah. We want to see Lebanese military and we want to deal with them directly.
Mhm. I don't know if you heard the words of Vice President JD Vance last week, ambassador, when he was asked, he spoke about some of the officials around Benjamin Netanyahu and questioned whether they were giving him the right advice. He spoke to them directly about criticizing the U.S. He said, I would not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world. Ambassador, Israel does not have a seat at the table in Switzerland. Are you comfortable with the U.S. speaking for the Israeli government? Both. We are very comfortable with the U.S. You know, and we have a strong alliance. We fought together. We want this world together. When you look at the relationship, some of the European countries, when the U.S., when the U.S. was fighting and was asking for support compared to what we did during this war. We are very proud of this alliance. And yes, we actually we count on the U.S. to represent us. And at the end of the day, you know, we have a short history and we proved our allies in the U.S. that we are a peaceful nation. We signed so many peace treaties and we hope that President Trump will mobilize in strength to to bring more countries to the Abraham Accords. But when we have to fight terror, we have no other choice. So we will do whatever we can to push the bad guys. But at the same time, we would welcome more peace, stability in the region.
If this deal ultimately, ambassador, this treaty does not address Iran's ballistic missile program, as President Trump seemed to suggest he would be okay with, well, Israel still view that as an existential threat? Probably there will be a, um, a major mistake, not only for Israel, for the U.S., for the free world. You know, before this war, Iran was producing hundreds of ballistic missiles, and they were competing not with Israel or with the Saudis. Uh, they were competing with Russia, China, and the U.S. in the capacity that they wanted to achieve. So we shouldn't allow them to go back to the same place they were before this war. It's dangerous. And they proved, you know, they produce those missiles and they launch them into cities, into Dubai, into Abu Dhabi, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem. So we should not allow them to rebuild this. And therefore, your question. We would always do whatever is necessary to protect our people. That's our policy for decades. And that's what we will continue to be our policy.
Mhm. Ambassador, you've made the point several times that you are in consultation and in conversation constantly with the White House, with the Trump administration. Are there red lines, however, that Israel has informed the administration about that you will not cross when it comes to signing a peace deal? I wouldn't do that. There will be red lines. We have a dialogue. We talk all the time about the issues. We have the experience on the ground. You know, we have seen the Iranian action after they signed the JCPoA. What they promised and what they delivered didn't deliver. So I would call it a dialogue. And for sure, we show the intelligence. We share our concerns with our allies.
Well, as we consider the dialogue, which in recent days has been publicly a bit strained, or at least there's been some harsh words that the president has had for Netanyahu and conduct in Lebanon, specifically, ambassador, Israel making preparations for what would happen if there is a more material rift with the United States, as you've said consistently, that Israel will act to defend itself. Do you need the United States to be able to do so? So I want you to be more optimistic. You know, we have a bond with the U.S. It is based on shared values. We cherish democracy, human rights. And I think for the U.S., it's the one strategic ally in the region. And so I think we will continue the collaboration. We are going to continue to work together. But when you look at the short history of Israel in the last seven, eight years, you know, we defended ourselves. We are grateful for the support from the U.S. and the most important ally that we have. But the defense of Israel is based on our boys and girls. My daughter, my son, those people who come volunteered to serve and protect our people. That was the case in 1948, and that is the case today.