WHEN: Today, Wednesday, May 15, 2024
WHERE: CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street”
Following is the unofficial transcript of a CNBC interview with Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” (M-F, 9AM-11AM ET) today, Wednesday, May 15. Following are links to video on CNBC.com: https://www.cnbc.com/video/2024/05/15/israeli-pm-benjamin-netanyahu-to-cnbc-we-do-have-a-disagreement-with-biden-on-rafah.html and https://www.cnbc.com/video/2024/05/15/israeli-pm-benjamin-netanyahu-to-cnbc-i-hope-we-can-see-eye-to-eye-with-the-united-states.html.
All references must be sourced to CNBC.
SARA EISEN: Hi, Carl and David, good to see you. Yeah, here from Jerusalem where we’re just outside the prime minister’s office wrapped up a conversation with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at what is a critical point in this war. He shared some new information about the invasion in Rafah, with Israeli troops on the ground there about the timeline for this war and about the relationship between the US and Israel right now. Have a listen. Mr. Prime Minister, thank you so much for taking the time.
PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: Thank you for coming.
EISEN: There are reports now that the Israeli army is advancing into Rafah can you just tell us the state of play and what the plan is at this hour?
PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: What we’re doing is what we have to do to win this war. We have to destroy Hamas’ fighting formations. They have four terrorists battalions left in Gaza. We can’t leave that there because they’ll reconquer the Gaza Strip, set up their military power again. And they promise they vowed to commit these savage murderers. Again and again and again. Again, the beheading of women the raping of women the kidnapping of children, the burning of babies, they promised to do it over and over again. So we can’t let them get away with it. And the way to prevent it and a necessary way to avoid it is to destroy those remaining terrorists battalions. So we’re doing it. We’re doing it carefully. We’re evacuating the people. Up to now, half a million people vacated Rafah evacuated safely, they’ve got out of the fighting zones, because we ask them to leave
EISEN: Where do they go?
PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: They go outside of Rafah outside the fighting zones, they move away because that’s where we ask them to do. Hamas is doing everything in their power to keep them in harm’s way, including sometimes shooting them if they try to leave. We do everything in our power to get them out of harms way. Billions of text messages, phone calls, leaflets, and happily they move. It’s important.
EISEN: Do we expect a full scale invasion and what does that even look like?
PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: I think what you’re seeing is a responsible step by step action that we’re taking. And the most important thing is to enable the civilian population to leave. That’s been basically our modus operandi from the beginning. That’s why if you actually look at the ratio of civilians to combatants killed in this war, it’s one of the lowest it’s perhaps the lowest in urban warfare history, modern urban warfare, contrary to the reports that are heard. By the way I heard the UN readjusted after seven months. Its assessment of how many women and children are killed every one is a tragedy by the way, for us, every one every civilian killed is a real tragedy because a life is lost. But for Hamas, it’s a strategy to increase the number of civilians killed, but nevertheless, we’ve achieved much lower numbers and right now we’re doing this with very low civilian deaths and I hope it continues.
EISEN: And yet there is this perception in the world that you can do more to protect civilians in Gaza.
PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Well, no army has done more in history. And I don’t say that. I mean, I do say it but the one who says that is John Spencer criminal John Spencer, who’s the head of urban warfare at West Point. He says that no army in history has gone through the lengths that Israel is going to prevent civilian deaths, losing the element of surprise enabling time for the enemy actually to organize itself for the coming attack. But we do it because we do care about civilian casualties. And we’re faced with a challenge that no army has faced because you’ve got 35,000 terrorist holed up in a dense environment 50 meters above ground sometimes and 50 meters below ground in terrorist tunnels. And yet we’re able to do this because we’re committed to it and we’ll continue to do it.
EISEN: There’s also a report today that the US administration is pushing to release a billion dollars of weapons aid to Israel. Can you confirm that and do you have a sense of when that will happen?
PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: I hope it happens soon. Look, I appreciate the help we receive from the United States from the beginning of the war President Biden came here. He said also these battle carrier groups and we’ve got weapons. Yes we do have a disagreement on Gaza rather than on Rafah. But we have to do what we have to do and sometimes you have to you just have to do what is required to ensure your survival in your future. We cannot continue into the future by having Hamas retake Gaza. It’s not only will be a tremendous victory for Hamas, it will be a tremendous victory for the Iran terror axis because Iran is trying to envelop us with a noose of death of which Hamas is one component, and that victory is a victory against Iran. It’s a victory for the moderate Arab states who are not openly but to understand that their future is involved also with our victory against Hamas. So we are doing what we have to do and I hope we can see eye to eye with the United States. We’re talking to them. But ultimately we do what we have to do to protect the life of our nation and to prevent these prevented savageries from being repeated again and again and again.
EISEN: Is the US withholding the heavy bombs. The 500 pound 2000 pound bombs.
PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Yeah, so far it has I think that’s out in the public. I hope we can we can overcome that but I said, Look, I sat on Holocaust Remembrance Day, which is just a few days ago, I said I appreciate the American help but I can’t allow Hamas to threaten us with this mass murder. And indeed, if they could, they would have done exactly what happened to us 80 years ago in the Holocaust there we were completely defenseless. And they murdered six million of our people, a third of our of the Jewish people in the world. Hamas if they could get away with it. They will do the same thing. The reason they can’t get away with it is we push them back, but we’re not going to leave them there. No one would. Would the United States leave an enemy right at its border. Not thousands of miles away but a few 100 yards away from its border after it committed the equivalent of 20 911 massacres on one day 50,000 Americans killed on one day 10,000 held us hostage by these criminals. I mean, it wouldn’t happen you know the United States wouldn’t do it and we wouldn’t do it either. So we have to do what we have to do and I paraphrase nations got to do what a nations got to do. And today we can.
EISEN: But can you win this fight without American support?
PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Well the answer is yes. Although we value American support, we want American support. I’ll do everything that I can to get American support, but not at the expense of our survival and security we have to stand alone and against these savages. We have to win. We don’t have a choice. But you know, Ben-Gurion, our first prime minister, declared the independence of the State of Israel against American opposition. Secretary of State Marshall at the time opposed the independence of Israel and actually American posed an arms embargo on Israel. At the time, Ben-Gurion did what he had to do. Prime Minister Menachem Bagin in 1981, destroyed the Saddam Hussein’s atomic bomb factory in Iraq because that bomb was aimed to destroy Israel and Ronald Reagan, the president at the time, slapped an arms embargo on us and he withheld, F 16s I think, for three months, but we did what do we have to do and over time people see that you know, you do what you have to do. Sometimes you have disagreements, but they recognize that those decisions were the right decisions. And I think they’ll recognize over time that the decisions we’re making now are the right decisions too.
EISEN: How’s your relationship with President Biden these days?
PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Well, I’ve known him for much more than these days. I’ve known him for over 40 years. And, you know, it’s been a friendship that is often laced with the disagreements. President Biden said it openly and I say it openly, but it hasn’t blocked friendship, but at the end, you know, I have to do, I’m the Prime Minister of Israel, I have to take care of the one and only Jewish state. And I hope to do as far as we can with agreements, but sometimes we just have to do even when there were disagreements, we have to do what we have to do to ensure the survival of the State of Israel.
EISEN: Did it factor into your decision or calculus at all with regard to going into Rafah the US threat to withhold weapons
PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: It factored in but it didn’t wasn’t a decision that I made lightly. And I respect the United States, I respect the American presidents, whoever is in power and certainly Joe Biden. That’s not an issue. But the responsibility is to do what you have to do to secure the future to secure our basic security. So I do what we have to do. And I hope I hope that we can iron it out. In fact, all the disagreements we had over the years, including now on the Gaza war, this is not our first disagreement, but ultimately we overcame it. I’m sure we will.
EISEN: The administration has given you higher grades on the disbursement of humanitarian aid. What took so long to get that aid flowing in?
PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Well for one thing, Hamas was looting it and still is looting it every day. You know, Hamas and others are looting it. So we get the aid into Gaza through multiple crossings that we’ve opened through land routes that we opened, sometimes through air drops that we’ve facilitated, and now we’re trying through a maritime route that actually I initiated. So our policy from the start – from the beginning of the war, my policy was you have to provide the basic humanitarian aid that is required by international law. But in the last six weeks, we actually changed it. Not merely to providing basic humanitarian aid, but flooding Gaza with humanitarian aid. And we’re doing that and right now, the difficulty we have – two difficulties actually. One is Hamas is looting. And the second is that one of these crossings, the Rafah crossings, we want open. We want to see it open. And we certainly want Egypt to release – to make sure that maximum humanitarian aid flows through this crossing and other crossings as well. And I hope we can come to understanding with that, too, with Egypt.
EISEN: When? When for Rafah?
PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Rafah yesterday if we could. I mean, that’s not our problem. We’re not holding up the opening of Rafah. I think – I hope Egypt considers what I’m saying now because I think it’s good for – they shouldn’t – nobody should hold the Palestinian population hostage in any way and I’m not holding them hostage. I don’t think anyone should.
EISEN: As far as the war –
PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: We’re fighting not the Palestinian population, even though many of them supported the massacre. We’re fighting the terrorists embedded in those populations. Hamas is using as human shields.
EISEN: And you mentioned there are four more battalions left. That’s why you’re targeting Rafah. Because I was going to ask how the war is going. We’re seeing the return of Hamas in some of the northern cities that you had already conquered, The hostages have not been returned. So is it really going well?
PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Well, half of the hostages have been returned. And many didn’t believe that we’d get that and we’ll get the other half. I’m committed to getting all of them back. And it’s heartbreaking to see what is happening to them in those Tehran dungeons, and what is happening to their families. So Hamas is very cynical, very evil. And you know, we are fighting sheer evil. I said – I think a term that President Biden used and it hasn’t changed – they were sheer evil, they are sheer evil. But how do you do that? How do you fight them? How do you defeat them? The first thing to understand is that they’re not just a terrorist organization, they have a terrorist army. It has organized battalions. That’s how they have command and control structure. That’s how if you don’t destroy the battalions, then a commander, a Hamas chieftain, can order 1000 people to do this attack or that attack. So you have to smash those battalions. And after you smash those battalions, which we’ve done in other places, you have to come back and mop up, which is what we’re doing in other parts of Gaza. It’s not over quite until you first smash the battalions. How long does that take? Well, I said a few weeks ago, it takes a few weeks to go into Rafah. We are. In a careful way to allow the evacuation of the population. But the intense part of the fighting, the smashing of the battalions, is just weeks away. Doesn’t take that long. After that, yes, you’ll have continual action, but at a much lower intensity, much lower scale, mopping up the remnants.
EISEN: So, it’s a matter of weeks until this is over?
PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: The Rafah operation is continued, as we plan, is a matter of weeks, not months, not years.
EISEN: And then what after Rafah?
PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Mopping up. You really need three things to finish this thing. One, you need a victory over the organized fighting formations. Then you have mop ups. Then you have sustained demilitarization to make sure there’s no terrorist resurgence, because you know, they’re still trying to regroup –
EISEN: And that is happening, right?
PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Yeah, that’s happening now, but we haven’t finished destroying – there’s still the chieftains are still there. We killed – we got rid of four – we got rid of two of the four commanders of Hamas. Another two to go. We will get them. Okay? We won’t rest until we get them. So you’ve got to get the chiefs. You’ve got to get the battalions. Then you have to mop up. All of that, we’re acting now to do. Once that is over, you have effectively the end of the war, certainly the end of the intense part of the war. What do you need then to reconstruct Gaza to have a different future so Gaza doesn’t pose a threat to Israel anymore? You need to have three things. One, sustained demilitarization and that I think, can only be done by Israel intervening when it can when it sees another terrorist resurgence. The second thing you need is a civilian administration that is not Hamas and not beholden to the destruction of Israel. And I think that could be done with the assistance of Arab countries and the international community. And the third thing you need is reconstruction. That I think can be done with the help of important players in the international community. But you’ve got to have, you’ve got to clear Gaza of Hamas. You can’t have a future for Gazans, for the Palestinians in Gaza, or a future for Israel, or a future for a broader Middle East peace if Hamas emerges victorious. And if it’s undefeated, it emerges victorious. That’s a tremendous victory for them and a tremendous defeat for all of us. What do Gazans – what do Hamas – what do they want? What do they chant? They chant “Death to Israel”, “Death to America.” What does Iran want that sponsors Hamas? “Death to Israel”, “Death to America.” And by the way, their supporters in the United States, on those campuses, they chant the same things. “Death to Israel”, “Death to America.” Unbelievable. Now, I know that doesn’t reflect the great – the vast majority of the American people. When asked who do you support Israel or Hamas? 80% of Americans say they support Israel. 20% — it is still a huge number – say they support Hamas. It’s the same 20% that when polled say that bin Laden was right. So they hate America. That’s why they hate Israel. They don’t hate Israel because of America. They hate – they don’t – they do actually. They don’t hate America because of Israel. It’s the other way around. They hate America because they hate Israel. They hate the whole idea of democracy, liberal societies. They view us all as, you know, colonial implants. Colonial implants. We’re here in this country. We’re sitting in this city, which King David declared as our capitol 3,000 years ago. So I think everything is spun in the other way. But we’re fighting for the truth and fighting for our future. And we’ll continue to do that.
EISEN: Because there are questions about, though, what happens after and what Israel wants to see – whether Israel wants to occupy Gaza, and who you really want to see operate in that power vacuum. What should it look like?
PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Well, it will be a power vacuum. First of all, it shouldn’t be a power vacuum that Hamas is controlling because that’s not a power vacuum. Those who tell us, “stop the war now,” you know, “leave Hamas in place,” “please leave those four battalions in Rafah” are basically saying enable Hamas to regroup, recapture Gaza and threaten you again. That’s not going to happen. So I think what I’d like to see is a non-Hamas civilian administration there with an Israeli military responsibility, overall military responsibility. That’s the only thing that would work. But there’s one precondition, you know, the day after Hamas, is the day after Hamas. The day after Hamas is destroyed. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t leave Hamas there and talk about the day after because you’re not going to have a day after. You’ll just have repetition of the same horrors.
EISEN: Can you talk about a two state solution after you remove Hamas?
PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Look, the two state solution that people talk about is basically would be the greatest reward for the terrorist that you can imagine. 80% of Palestinians in Gaza, and in Judea, Samaria, and the West Bank, support the savagery. Giving them a state would be – would do two things. One, it would be a tremendous reward, historic precedent of giving those people who committed the worst massacre against the Jewish people since the Holocaust on a single day, giving them a prize. And secondly it would be a state that would be immediately taken over by Hamas and Iran. And it wouldn’t use – it wouldn’t advance the purposes of peace. It would just be a launching ground for future war against Israel. So, I think that that’s not in the works. And most Israelis by now, a huge number would say, don’t do that, you know, have the – I would argue that if we defeat Hamas, we should strive for something that I’ve long believed we can do in the Middle East, and that is have the populations, have the – rather the Palestinians – have all the powers that they need to govern themselves, and none of the powers that could threaten Israel’s survival. And that means that the military responsibility in the Palestinian areas adjacent to Israel would be left to Israel. Otherwise, Iran comes back and you know, we left Lebanon, Iran came in with Hezbollah. We left Gaza, Iran came in with Hamas and Islamic Jihad. If we were to do that a third time, the same thing would happen. So that’s not good for the Palestinians. It’s not good for Israel. It’s not good for peace. It’s bad for the world. It’s not good for America. I think this formula that I say, the Palestinians should have all the powers to govern themselves, but none of the powers to threaten us. That’s the right thing. And that, by necessity means that certain sovereign powers, the most important one being the responsibility for overall security, is maintained with Israel. I think that’s the realistic solution.
EISEN: Is the U.S. was holding intelligence about Hamas leaders whereabouts?
PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: I don’t think so.
EISEN: Because there was a report that they were in an effort to keep you from invading Rafah.
PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: No, I don’t think that’s true. Anyway, the main intelligence on Palestinians and believe me in a much broader radius in the Middle East is that we have one by our own. And of course, we appreciate the intelligence cooperation. America often helps us. You should know that Israel always helps America with a lot of intelligence that saves American lives, in many, many parts of the world, and especially here in the middle East. Israel is a valued ally of the United States. I don’t think America has a better ally than Israel. And I believe that Israel has no better ally than America, doesn’t mean we don’t have disagreements. Do you have disagreements in your family, Sara?
EISEN: Of course.
PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: So we have disagreements in our family, too.
EISEN: You mentioned Iran and it does raise this question of the never ending war, and that is how do you stop all of this without stopping Iran, which is funding Hamas and Hezbollah and others?
PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Well, I think you’re right. I think ultimately, we have to. We have to confront Iran, and prevent not only from closing in this loop… that they’re trying to put around us, beginning with Hamas, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and radical Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria. They’re choke us but we’re fighting back, beginning with Hamas in Gaza. But this is not merely our battle. It’s also your battle. Because if they were to achieve, if they could, if they could knock out Israel, they got the Middle East and if they got the Middle East, they’re going to be going right after you and they say it. They chant death to Israel, death to America. They want to develop and this is the worst part, not only conquering the Middle East, which were preventing them from doing but also developing intercontinental ballistic missiles tipped with nuclear warheads that could hold any city in the United States hostage. I don’t think you want that. So confronting Iran, rolling back Iran’s aggression, preventing it from getting nuclear weapons is not merely Israel’s interest. It’s America’s interest. It’s the interest of all the moderate Arab states who understand like us, that they’re in danger too, but they’re just in danger of the regime change them, throw them out and put their own puppets there. In our case, it’s not just the government they want to destroy. They want to destroy the country. They want another 6 million Jews dead, close to 7 million I’m happy to say we have now, not happy to say that they’ll be destroyed they won’t be, but if they could, that’s what they will do and we won’t let them.
EISEN: So where does that leave Hezbollah because what, 80,000 Israelis are evacuated or displaced from the north, how likely is it that we see a war on the Northern Front?
PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: We’re committed to having them return. They left because of Hezbollah rocketing gunfire and so on, on the border. We’re committed to have them back. We either get them back without a military action through diplomatic efforts or with a military action.
EISEN: By September?
PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: I don’t want to say, I don’t want to announce dates. But I think Hezbollah understands that we’re not going to allow this to continue.
EISEN: So there is a there is a diplomatic path there.
PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Well depends on Hezbollah because they have to understand that the alternative is very bad for them. I don’t think they want to. I think many were surprised by the strong response that we gave to the Iran axis, terror axis in Gaza. And I think Iran was surprised by the failure of the weapons to penetrate Israel, they were sure that they would penetrate and we were grateful for the American International assistance in this, but the main thing was Israeli technology that and things that I can talk about that prevented this, but it is also purported that we were able to surprise them in other things. So I think we should – no one should underestimate the resolve of Israel to defend itself or its ability to do so, least of all Hezbollah.
EISEN: What about your own resolve? There is a perception that you are prolonging this war for your own political power.
PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Yeah, well, I’m not concerned with my future. I’m concerned with Israel’s future. I read the other day, an esteemed American paper by an esteemed journalist, he said Netanyahu wants the war to continue because if it doesn’t, then he’s taken out of office.
EISEN: A lot of people feel that way, go to jail even.
PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Yeah you know, his trial would resume. Sara, my trial has been ongoing since I resumed office in Israel. Elected Prime Ministers do not have any immunity from prosecution. Happily this case is unraveling. A few months ago, the judges called the prosecutors in and said, you really should drop your chief charge, you know, the bribery charge, the judges are telling the prosecution. So I’m not worried about the trial, I’m worried about Israel’s trial and tribulations and I’m going to do what I have to do to finish this war. And as far as I’m concerned, we could finish it as quickly as possible, but we have to do so by finishing the war, by winning the war. That means destroying those battalions.
EISEN: Do you have the support of your own people because we are seeing protests by the thousands demanding a deal where they release the hostages, no matter what.
PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Well you know, Hamas anybody who says get a deal at any price means basically capitulate to Hamas. What does Hamas say? Hamas says, yeah you can have the hostages maybe by the way, you can have them but you have to stop the war, end the war, get out of Gaza and leave Hamas in place and let them basically reconquer the Gaza strip from which they would commit these atrocities again, and again. We can’t agree to that, that’s what people have to understand. But I will not relent on trying in every way possible to get those hostages back. And when we defeat Hamas, we’ll get them back. And I think we’ll get some of them back before, that’s at least what I’m trying to do to achieve.
EISEN: But do still feel like you have the mandate from the Israeli population?
PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: People don’t lie. I mean, you could go in the streets and you can see the vast support that is there. And you can, you won’t know it because, you know, everybody’s fixated on these, these protests, which are financed, organized and so on. But they don’t reflect the majority of the people anymore than the mobocracies in American campuses. These these protesters, these mobs, do they reflect the majority of the American people?
EISEN: No.
PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: No, well it’s the same thing here, the majority of the people here support a victory. They want to see a victory. They want to see Hamas removed because they understand that they’re very future is on the line.
EISEN: Well, at least I hope not, you know, on the protests on the college campuses, growing anti-Semitism even beyond the campuses. I wonder what you think this security threat is to American Jews right now.
PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: It’s quite serious. I mean, I’m talking to my American friends who are Jewish and they’re saying, we never saw America like this. And I’m talking to my non-Jewish friends who are saying the same thing and they’re equally troubled by it, but I think I think it engenders an opposite reaction. I was so deeply moved the other day when I saw these protesters, if you want to call them that, were burning American flags and in I think in University in North Carolina, they took down the American flag, hoisted on the flagpole the Palestinian flag. And then American students other students came in. They took down the Palestinian flag, re-hoisted the American flag, and then stood around the flagpole to protect the American flag. And I was so deeply moved because these people really understand it’s our common battle.
EISEN: What about the economy? It’s definitely taken a hit as a result of the war. How do you plan to turn that around without being able to give a specific timeline about when it ends?
PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Well, I think on the contrary, I think that the hit we’ve taken is relatively small because we have a very robust economy. I led the free market revolution here 20 years ago which made Israel a technological powerhouse in the world. People are investing now and if they’re smart, they’ll go now. Because when we win the war, we also win the peace and win the economy and people understand that I’m having people come in here who say we want to make Israel the hub and an AI leader, or one of the three leaders in the world. It already is, you know, we’re number four. We’re number one in per capita investments in AI, number one, but in absolute terms in a country of just 10 million, we’re number four in absolute terms in investments in venture fund investments in AI in Israel. But I think we can go a lot further. Israel has a robust innovation society and the future of economies is based on, on technological progress and on AI. We’re committed to doing this and I’m telling you, this news right now, your audience, the time to come into Israel is now because we’re going to rebound huge once this war is won. And you should be there, not at the ground floor, but don’t wait to get at the top.
EISEN: But the rating agencies are cutting, they’re worried about the deficits and the military spending.
PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Yeah, is that right? Yeah well, I’m telling you, I’ve heard this before. I was finance minister here in the early 2000s. Nobody wanted to invest here. We had a terror Intifada, you know and all that and people didn’t believe it. I said look, we’re going to do a revolution here. Israel is going to be transformed from a semi socialist economy into one of the most robust free market systems, technological countries in the world. And I said invest now. I don’t think they believed me because they didn’t. But those who did made a huge fortune here. Huge fortunes. There are many billionaires in Israel. But I’m saying this now to you and to your audience. It’s recorded here it is Sara. It’s recorded, I’m telling you Israel will be one of the most advanced technological societies and among the three and perhaps among the two AI economies leading AI economies in the world. That is worth a lot of money. Be part of it.
EISEN: Mr. Prime Minister, you have been the most among the most vilified leaders in the last few months in the world. There is threats of prosecution from international courts. How are you dealing with all of this?
PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Well, I’m dealing with it because I’m not here for myself. I’m on a mission. And the mission is to protect the future of the Jewish people and the Jewish people can only have a future if there’s a Jewish state. Yes, we’re imperiled that we have the resolve and the spirit to fight back and to win. I visited yesterday some of our wounded veterans who lost limbs. It’s just unbelievable what they say. You know, they say we’re waiting to be fixed with an artificial leg because I’m going back to fight with my friends, with my colleagues, because we have to win. And that spirit is so powerful. It’s so powerful, that I don’t think anything can stop, I know nothing can stop it. And what I’m telling you is that when I think about the vilification, the slanders, the lies and the absurdities that are leveled at me. I don’t think their leveled at me, they’re leveled at the country and I’m not an outlier. I don’t represent my policies or the policies of the extreme fringes in my government and all that ridiculous spin. I represent the broad majority of the Jewish people in Israel, and even many non-Jews. The Arab citizens of Israel will understand that our common future is on the line. We have to win. And if I have to take slanders and vilifications, so be it. It’s not the first time.
EISEN: I think your your father lectured until age 100. How long do you plan to be Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Not until the age of 100, please, it’s not. Look, I don’t plan to be here. It’s not my plan. It’s what the people of Israel want. And so far, they’ve invested their trust in me because I reflect what they believe is the essence of our being. We have to ensure, we have to ensure that what happened in the Holocaust doesn’t happen again. That the peace that we’ve begun to form and that I lead in the Abraham Accords that it’s broadened. It will only be broadened with Saudi Arabia and others if we win. If we lose, nobody will be interested in us. Victory is essential both for survival, for security, but also for peace and prosperity. You make alliances with those who win, you don’t make alliances with the losers, and that’s why, among other things, we will win.
EISEN: Speaking of the Abraham Accords, are you in touch with Donald Trump?
PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Not recently, but I think he sent me a letter of congratulations when I was, I think when I was elected.
EISEN: So not since October 7.
PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: No, but you know, I’ve always appreciated the support that he gave. It was very, very important, supporting us on recognizing Jerusalem as our capital, moving the embassy here, recognizing our sovereignty in the Golan Heights, and getting out of what I thought was a disastrous Iran deal. And I appreciate all of that, just as I appreciate the fact that we received the support we got from President Biden. I think ultimately the American people and the presidents of the United States, they look at the situation here in the Middle East, and they say, who stands with America, who stands for the same values that America has stood for? And the answer is Israel.
EISEN: Mr. Prime Minister, thank you so much for the time today.
PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Thank you.
EISEN: Really appreciate it.
