Extended interview: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

60 minutes overtime.

Mr. Prime Minister, good to see you.

Good to be with you.

Is the war with Iran over?And if it isn't, who will decide when it is?

I think it accomplished a great deal, but it's not over because there's still nuclear material, enriched uranium that has to be taken out of Iran.There is still enrichment sites that have to be dismantled.There are still proxies that Iran supports.There are ballistic missiles that they still want to produce.Now we've degraded a lot of it, but all of that is still there.And there's work to be done.

This war cannot end until all those things are eliminated.

Well, certainly we want to get the nuclear material out.We certainly want to get the enrichment sites dismantled.We've curbed a lot.We've degraded a lot of the missile production sites.But the agreement should cover all these areas, including the proxies.Can it end with, as President Trump has led now, a blockade?

and economic pressure on them to do it with non -military means, fine.If it can be accomplished, why not?But if not, both the United States and Israel, we both agree, President Trump and I, that if necessary, we can re -engage them militarily if it's necessary.

If it's necessary.How do you envision the highly enriched uranium will be removed from Iran?You go in and you take it out.With what?Special forces from Israel?Special forces of the United States working in tandem under international supervision?

How?

Well, I'm not going to talk about military means, but what President Trump has said to me, I want to go in there.I mean, he said that publicly.He said it, and I think he's right.He's very committed to this.And I think it can be done physically.That's not the problem.

If you have an agreement and you go in and you take it out, why not?That's the best way.

What if there isn't an agreement?Can it be taken out by force?

Well, you're going to ask me these questions.I'm going to dodge them.So you can ask me that second time, third time.And I'll dodge it second time, third time.Because I'm not going to talk about our military possibilities, plans, or anything of the kind.And I think you understand that.

I do understand that.But it's of great concern to the American people and the people of Israel how long this will take.And absent an agreement, What kind of things should they prepare for?

I think the most important thing for people to understand in America and in Israel, I think they do understand it.But for in the world, in Europe, you have to understand Iran that declares not merely death to Israel, but death to America.That's what they want to achieve.They don't not only want to kill Americans, which they have killed and wounded them by the thousands, burned up your embassies, killed your Marines, burned your flags, tried to assassinate the president of the United States.and some of your chief officials several times, they're committed to destroy America.They say that, okay?

Their commitment involved their plans over the years to build nuclear bombs and the means to deliver them to the United States.They were very close to developing a nuclear bomb, okay?Very close.In fact, if we hadn't done the two military operations that we did, they'd have a bomb within now or within a month or two.Now, you don't want a fanatic regime like that, that hates America, that has no compunction of murdering its own citizen, murdering and wounding tens of thousands of its own citizens.You don't want them to have nuclear weapons.

That's what prompted President Obama.and me to go out and stop them, prevent them from having them.

And I'm just trying to get at how long is it going to take to achieve that aim?

I'm not going to give a timetable to it, but I'm going to say that's a terrifically important mission because you don't want Iran to have ballistic missiles to reach any city in the United States with nuclear warheads because no American would be safe.And I think President Trump understood that from the start.I don't think, I know that he understood that from years of discussion with this.You know, I came to the United States in 2016, right before the elections, because I made it a habit to meet with the candidates of both parties, either in America or here.So I go to 2016, it's right before the elections, and I meet with Hillary Clinton, and then I meet with Donald Trump in New York.The first thing he says to me in Trump Tower, is we can't let Iran have nuclear weapons.

I'm going to walk out of that terrible Iran deal.Jump forward eight years later, there's another election.I meet President Biden and Kamala Harris in Washington, and then I go and meet Donald Trump in Mar -a -Lago.And the first thing he says to me, even before I sit down, he says, you know, Bibi, we cannot let Iran have nuclear weapons.I'm not going to let it happen.So he's infused with this mission.

What do you think changed from the first term to the second term, because it was a phrase he spoke to you in 2016.It's action he took with your government now.

Well, I think in the first term he believed, as did I, that we could enforce sanctions, a sanctions regime, which he did.and basically bring Iran to its knees, which is a phrase he used.Yeah.Well, they stopped exporting oil and, you know, just reduced it completely.He hoped that that would work, and it did for a while, but it didn't really stop them.I would say it slowed them down, but it didn't stop them.

Then they went back to enrichment.They went back to their full efforts on nuclear to develop a nuclear weapon, and what changes that they were very close to achieving it.That's what prompted the action.And it amazes me, frankly.You know, when we talk about it, people ask, what is the purpose of this war?What's the point?

The point is not to let a regime committed to the destruction of the United States and Israel.They call us the little Satan.They call you the big Satan.What do you do with the big Satan?You have to remove it from the world.That's their doctrine.

Not to let such a regime have nuclear weapons, because it's very different.I don't know, let me pick a country.If Holland has nuclear weapons, it's not the same as the Ayatollah regime that calls for your destruction having nuclear weapons.So that's what prompted these military operations.

Mr. Prime Minister, what is your evaluation of the state of the Iranian regime today?Is it just as well -composed, well -organized, and fanatical as you just described?

I think it's at the weakest point it's been since it came into power.Hijacked the Iranian people since 1979.Yeah, absolutely It's the weakest it's been the hardliners are just as hard line as they were before but there are fissures in the in the regime I mean there are cracks in it because they're you know They've been hit very hard by our joint efforts or joint military efforts.We destroyed a lot of their the money machine their petrochemical plants their steel plants in which they produce theirraw material for these rockets and ballistic missiles and other things.We hit them very hard, and so it causes now a debate within this regime.

Some say, you know, let's keep on trucking, and others are saying, you know, if we do, our economy will collapse and the people will rise.That's their real fear, the people will rise.because they're really afraid of the Iranian people.So they are, you know, there's a debate.They're weak.They're certainly weaker than they were before, but it's not over, and the jury's still out.

I'm the first one to say it.What do you believe is the physical condition and operational influence of the current supreme leader?

Yeah, if you ask me what his condition is, first of all, if you ask me if he's alive, I think he is alive.What his condition is, it's hard to say.You know, he's holed up in some bunker or in some secret place.And I think he's trying to exert his authority.I don't think he has the same authority that his father, the Ayatollah Khamenei, had.I don't think so.

That's also creating the disruptions in that regime.And I don't think that's a bad thing.But I think the real question is not so much what they do, it's what we do.Do we keep them in check?Do we keep up the pressure?And I think the answer is we should and we are.

And President Trump has been leading this effort, I think quite In quite unexpected ways, the blockade on them, when they were blockading the Gulf, has actually turned the tables on them.But, you know, it's an ongoing thing.

With the fractures and fissures you described, do you have a genuine sense of who can negotiate a deal that is durable on the Iranian side?

Well, I have my opinions.

Please share them.

I share them with the president.OK.

Any guidance on what those opinions are?I have opinions on my opinions too, but I'm not going to share them here either.Understood.Understood.What about the second front of this conflict, which is Lebanon, but not Lebanon, it's Hezbollah?Is that near an end?

Is that a war that is nearing an end?And has Israel achieved its strategic objectives?and tactical goals against Hezbollah?

Hezbollah had 150 ,000 ballistic missiles and rockets before the war.150 ,000.That's the densest concentration of these projectiles on the planet.And they were all aimed to destroy our cities, not only to harass the north of the country with rockets, but to destroy our cities, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa.you name it, with ballistic missiles that come raining down, you know, each one has half a ton or a ton of explosives and they come down, it's like a bus coming down with amazing speed and the destruction is terrible.We destroyed the bulk of that.

We destroyed about 90, more than 90 % of that.But that still leaves them with thousands of rockets and some ballistic missiles.And that's still a big issue.They still hold Lebanon hostage.Hezbollah is basically a proxy of Iran.Iran holds Lebanon.

We have no quarrel with Lebanon.We can make peace with Lebanon and want to make peace with them tomorrow, not yesterday.But you have this foreign body, this Iranian -backed terrorist organization that hijacked the country.

And the Lebanese government has a history of being incapacitated or unable.Right.So when you're negotiating with the Lebanese government, many people are confused.How does that solve the Hezbollah problem?

Well, it doesn't, not yet.So we've had to go into Lebanon to prevent a repeat of the invasion we had in Gaza, you know.On October 7th, Hamas invaded us, butchered our our men, beheaded our men, raped our women, and then killed them, burned our babies, did the worst massacre against Jewish people since the Holocaust.And guess what?On the other border, Hezbollah from Lebanon was planning to do even more.They had 5 ,000 Redouan forced terrorists ready to invade the Galilee.

So we pushed them back.We've got a security belt now that prevents them from doing that or shooting anti -tank missiles into our kitchens, into our living rooms.But it's not over yet.We have, we still have missiles.We have drones, killer drones.We have to deal with it.

Now, if we are, let me tell you, the Lebanese would like us to do that.Many, you know, they talk.Eradicate Hezbollah.Oh yeah, because they want freedom.Who would want a country to be taken over by these killers, these murderers?Of course they want to be free, but they've not shown yet the capacity to fight them.

What we're talking to them about is how do we work together?to militarily and politically, possibly splitting up the work, to get rid of Hezbollah.It's not yet been done.It has to be done as well.

Is it possible, Mr. Prime Minister, that the war with Iran could end, but the war with Hezbollah could continue?

That these would be separate and divergent battlefields?Well, they should be.They should be.What Iran would like to do is to say, no, you know, if we achieve a ceasefire here, we want a ceasefire there.They do.Clearly.

You know why?Because they want Hezbollah to stay there and continue to torture Lebanon, continue tohold its people hostage, and continue to - Will you accept that?No.No, we've said - Even if President Trump asks you to?Well, look, he understands what I'm saying.

I mean, we want to get rid of that danger to our communities, to our cities.They rocket our cities all the time.They rocket our communities.And of course, would you want to live like that?I mean, would you like to live - where do you live, Major?I live in Washington, D .

C.OK, so in Bethesda, you've got I live right downtown.OK, you've got in Bethesda, right near the White House.That's that's about the distance in Bethesda.In my conversations, you would have a terrorist organization that claims they want to destroy the United States and destroy Washington.And they have the, you know, the missiles and the drones to do that right across your border, your municipal line.

Would you accept that?Of course not.You wouldn't do that.

Right.So this could go on.

Even if Iran is solved?I hope.No, if Iran, if this regime is indeed weakened or possibly toppled, I think it's the end of Hezbollah.It's the end of Hamas.It's probably the end of the Houthis, because the whole scaffolding of the terrorist proxy network that Iran built collapses if the regime in Iran collapses.Now, that's not guaranteed, but the weakening of that regime weakens the proxies as well.

Still a long haul.You know, it's not something that's going to be done tomorrow.

Do you believe it is possible to topple the Iranian regime?

I think that you can't predict when that happened.Is it possible?Yes.Is it guaranteed?No.But I can tell you it's like bankruptcy, you know.

It proceeds, what is it, proceeds gradually and then it falls, you know, like that.You couldn't predict the fall of the Soviet Union.You couldn't predict the fall of the Ceausescu dictatorship in Romania.

Very few people predicted the fall of Syria.

And it happens.Now, is it what precedes it?There has to be a weakening of the regime.The regime has been weakened, but it's not, it's not guaranteed.

There are few places on earth where the Israeli intelligence operatives know more about than the internal dynamics of Iran.What are they telling you?

Just what I told you.They've been weakened.They have internal fights.They're worried, but I can tell you one thing, when did the uprisings, when did the revolt in the street happen in Iran?It happened after our first operation, after Rising Lion, after Midnight Hammer, the two names that we have for that.And then, you know, they came out to the streets because their condition, economic conditions were bad, were getting worse, but also because they saw that Iran is not this, overwhelming, you know, neighborhood bully that nobody could resist.

We resisted them.We fought them.Our planes controlled the skies over Tehran, which was unthinkable before that.And then they went out to the streets.They were mauled.They were massacred.

They were wounded, maimed by the tens of thousands.And so, you know...That memory has to linger.The memory lingers.And I think it's something else.I think they also The legitimacy is gone because they understand that it's just brute force that is keeping them.

So would that rise up again?Could that happen again?My view is it probably could, but you can't guarantee it.And contrary to what people said, I didn't go to the White House and said to Donald Trump, you know, it's guaranteed it can be done.I said I didn't really have to tell him.He knew that we were approaching a situation where Iran could produce a nuclear weapon.

He knew that we were approaching a situation where Iran's ballistic missile capability afterrising line was going to be reconstructed and Khamenei wanted to put it underground, the factories underground, not the missiles, the factories underground to produce more and more and more ballistic missiles.And to do the same with his nuclear industry, put them underground under a heavy mountain where even B -2s couldn't reach it.So he knew that we have to take action and he did.

I want to get to that point you just made in a second.If someone were to ask you, as I'm going to, Mr. Prime Minister, the capabilities of Israeli intelligence within Iran allowed you to pinpoint the location of Supreme Leader and others, that is a kind of granular intelligence that is borderline miraculous in the modern world.Why wasn't it sufficient to also foment a revolution?

I think it could be a necessary condition, but I'm not sure that it's a sufficient condition.But you're quite right about our granular capability for surgical attacks.Why can't they also set in motion a revolution that could topple the regime, your operatives?Because you need many things.You not only need to attack the leadership.There's still a lot of people there.

One out of 100 Iranians is in the secret police.And as they show, they're quite ready to just butcher their people.So it's not that simple because it's terror.It's basically the application of terror.This is the preeminent terrorist regime in the world.They send terrorism to every country.

but first to their own people, so they terrorize them.But we have been accused of indiscriminate attacks.We're the most discriminating military on the planet in history.You remember the beepers?We knocked out.We didn't kill 2 ,500 people, but we impaired them, knocked them out with surgical precision.

no collateral damage with the beepers, you know And that's what we proceeded to do against their key scientists against their key commanders against their leaders, but It's a component.It doesn't guarantee.It doesn't guarantee the Success of a revolt, but it could help it happen.

So you refer to this a minute ago I want to put the question directly to you because the New York Times on April 7th reported the following about a fateful meeting, February 11th, in the White House, and the New York Times reports as follows, quote, in the Situation Room on February 11th, Mr. Netanyahu made a hard sell, suggesting that Iran was ripe for regime change and expressing the belief that a joint U .S.-Israeli mission could finally bring an end to the Islamic Republic.Is that correct?No, that's actually incorrect, because...

In what ways is it incorrect?It's incorrect in the sense that I said, oh, well, it's guaranteed, we can do it, and so on.I didn't say that.We both understood that we have little time to act because otherwise they'd get nuclear weapons.We both understood that we have little time to act because otherwise they'll bury underground their ballistic missile capabilities.But while we were, we said that part of the action would be the removal of the leadership and other measures, there was uncertainty.

And we said it.All this, you know, is uncertain if you ever, you know, engage in military operations.

In the confines of that conversation, you noted the uncertainty.

Not only did I note it, we both agreed, you know, that there was both uncertainty and risk involved.And I remember that we, I said, and he said, that the danger, there's danger in action, in taking action, but there's greater danger in not taking action.So there was no certainty there.There was no guarantee.It wasn't pie in the sky, the way people describe it.It was, I think, a very truthful presentation of the possibilities and the risks.

Picking up on that point that you just made and continuing with the New York Times reported, quote, Mr. Netanyahu and his team outlined conditions they portrayed as pointing to certain victory.adding the regime would be so weakened that it could not choke off the Strait of Hormuz and the likelihood that Iran would land blows against U .S.interests in the neighboring countries was assessed as minimal.Is that factually incorrect?

I don't think we could quantify it exactly, but I think that the problem of the Hormuz Straits was understood as the fighting went on.It became understood?It became understood.

Was it misread at the beginning?

I think, I'm not sure it was misread, but there's a great risk for Iran to do it.And it took a while for them to understand how big that risk is, which they understand now.

Because of the blockade.

Because of the blockade.And that's actually a brilliant move by the president.I think it's very smart.And I don't think they calculated, A, that, well, I think they didn't calculate the response that this would have.Yes, they could cause a global dislocation of markets.trying to take over an international maritime route.

They could do that, but they should have understood that that would eventually cause, you know, a reaction that was very powerful and that is now collapsing their economy.So, did people understand, did we understand that, yeah, they could do it, but then they wouldn't do it because they understood what would happen if they did do it?Yeah, no, I don't claim perfect foresight and nobody had perfect foresight.Neither did the Iranians.They should have figured out that that's what's coming.

Did you say that most of these risks would be minimal?I don't remember using that language.Would that be a fair interpretation?

No, I would say that the overall conception was that this would elicit a problem, a response that they probably would not shoulder.But they did shoulder, and now they're attacking.They're being attacked accordingly.

In those moments, Was the precipitating factor, the intelligence that was gathered and then by the Israelis and confirmed by the U .S.about the location of the supreme leader and the opportunity that presented, or was it the imminent threat, which was more important?It starts with the threat, starts with the threat.

But again, again, you have to understand this.The president talked to me.The two meetings that I described to you were among many.But he said, we cannot let Iran get a nuclear weapon because that's enormously dangerous to the United States.And the president first thinks, well, about America, and then he thinks also about the world.You can't let it happen.

So we knew it was going to happen.It would have happened already if we hadn't done it.So that was the first thing.Everything else flows from that.That's exactly how it happened.

There's a quote that's frequently misattributed to Winston Churchill.History is written by the victors.He didn't say it.Lots of people said it.He didn't say it.No, he said, I don't worry about it because I'll write it myself.

But that idea that victors write the history.What will the history, the State of Israel will write about this conflict with Iran?And when will you know it's been victorious?

I think we already achieved great things.Remember, Iran was surrounding us with the noose of death of simultaneous invasions from Gaza, from Hamas, and from Lebanon.by Hezbollah.We were going to be rocketed and pelleted with ballistic missiles that would destroy our cities.Iran would have atomic weapons to destroy us.We smashed the terror axis.

It's not finished.We have still work to do.But it's clear that Israel has emerged as the most powerful country in the Middle East.We have a partnership with the U .S.that is second to none.

The national security memorandum that was issued a few months ago described Israel as the model ally, not the ally, the model ally of the United States.So we've changed our position from being on the verge of being exterminated, being annihilated, to a position where we knock back the annihilators and become a very forceful element, a very forceful country in the Middle East.Now, all power is relative.You know that.All power is relative.Yes.

Iran hasn't disappeared.Hezbollah hasn't disappeared.Hamas hasn't disappeared.But they're in many ways, in some cases, a shadow of their former selves.They certainly don't threaten us now with annihilation.They try to kill our people.

They occasionally succeed.But there's no question that the relative power of Israel has changed.And, you know, that's been our situation.When we started out, we were 600 ,000 people on the beach here and we were attacked by seven Arab armies and we survived by the skin of our teeth.And as we got stronger, we made peace with the Arab states.I, myself, along with President Trump, we made the Abraham Accords, peace with four Arab countries.

I now see the possibility of the expansion of those agreements and the expansion and the deepening of the agreementswe do have to alliances with Arab states of the kind that we never even dreamed of.And that's the result of the change in the relative power of Israel.The fact that we face down this neighborhood bully, this killer regime in Iran, that's brought quite a few of the Arab countries closer together with Israel.

And that's good for peace.It's interesting you mention that, Mr. Prime Minister, because I just read a Wall Street Journal story that said there is concern among the Gulf states right now that if the Iranian regime hangs on and there is a peace deal that deals with nuclear and ballistic but does not deal with shorter range conventional missiles and the allied militias, an angry Iran will present a greater danger to these Gulf states than it did before this conflict began, point one.Point two, also it said that there is concern rising among the Gulf monarchies that it will not allow and does not want Israel to exercise strategic dominance over the Middle East.So has any of this been jeopardized?

You know, I'm hearing different things.Please.I'm hearing different things.I'm hearing the fact from Arab countries, which I won't get into, who say - All of them?No.But some of them, and I never heard that before, let's strengthen our alliance with Israel because that in fact deters Iran.

Let's strengthen our alliance with Israel because we can work up our defenses as a result of it.Let's strengthen our alliance with Israel because we can do amazing things with Israel.That was clearly the trajectory before this country.It's more than you think now in ways that I guess will become public.I can't give everything to 60 Minutes or to you in one shot, but I'm telling you that the degree of economic cooperationon energy, on AI, on quantum, the areas where Israel is so strong, that's how we're so strong.

I mean, we're a tiny country, right?But we're a gigantic country.We may have 10 million people in tiny territory, but gigantic talent.And they see the possibility now of sharing fruits of these capabilities with them.And that's happening right now.So yes, of course, there'll still be a challenge from Iran, but the partnership with Israel, in fact, helps deter that and help them defend themselves and protect their future.

When you talked to my colleague, Tony DeCoppol, in October 2025, you said something that really has been ringing in my ear.It's near the end of the interview.You said, the most important thing in destroying fanaticism is to destroy a certain hope.When Israel is too strong, that prepares the ground for a change of heart.Has that happened?It's already happened with the Arab world, you know, after a success of wars and they saw that Israel is not destroyed, Israel is there.

But I mean in this current context, with Hezbollah, with Iran.

I think the fanaticism, you're dealing here with fanatic regimes, you know, there are fanatics.That's why they're willing to do horrible things to their own people, murder their citizens in Iran, murder their citizens in Lebanon, murder their citizens and just execute them on the spot in Hamas, in Gaza.They're not easily persuadable, so you may need more staying power, more resolve to roll them back and finally to defeat them.It's not something that happens overnight.But do democracies have the staying power?Do they have the resolve to stop these fanatics?

Well, you think, well, it's none of our business.It is your business.Because if Iran were to develop nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them to every American city, it's just a question of time.You know, they've just developed a missile to reach Diego Garcia.That's 2 ,400 miles.To reach the United States, a little over 6 ,000 miles.

So if you don't take this action, if we hadn't taken this action, and if we don't continue the pressure, then one day you'll be faced with such a regime.And then the question is, Will you be able to deter them?Well, it's not obvious.Look at what they're doing now without nuclear weapons.They're attacking everybody in sight.They're jamming up this international waterway and causing a crisis in the world economy.

And they're butchering their own citizens.You think they'll be, you know, they'll spare you?They'll be nice to you?But you still have that belief.We still have that.We still have.

Yes.This is your philosophy.

This is your core philosophy.Yes.I believe that free societies have to be strong against.And that you can force a change of heart.within fanatical entities in the region?

It's already happened.It's happened in some places also in the Gulf.But it is, you know, it's not guaranteed.History doesn't guarantee the victory of free civilization.It's it has to be purchased.Freedom is precious.

Survival is precious.It's not it's not guaranteed by hope alone.Understood.It is guaranteed by the force of will and if necessary, the force of arms.Now, this is this is not a you know, this is not a popular belief these days because In the digital age we live, where people just scroll and scroll and scroll, the sense of history becomes dim.You're lucky in some cases if it goes back to breakfast.

Transient.Yeah.Ephemeral.Very ephemeral.And people don't always understand what I think is important.that our free civilization is both precious, but also vulnerable.

And if societies don't have the will to defend themselves, they'll be overtaken by the barbarians.I read this in my favorite author, one of my favorite authors, Will Durant, a great American historian.who wrote, you know, the history of civilization, and basically wrote a compendium at the end, a hundred page book, Lessons of History.I gather you read it.I have indeed.So he says it, you know, he basically says this.

Nothing's guaranteed.Good doesn't triumph over evil.It's not guaranteed unless good is willing to fight.And what is happening in some parts of Western society, it looks like it's taken over a lot of Western Europe and some parts of the United States.Fighting the bad people is bad because fighting is bad.War is horrible.

I've been in it.I myself experienced it.You know, I lost a fellow soldier, died in my arms when he was 18.My brother died rescuing hostages.I myself was wounded in a hostage release.And I've seen the horrors of war.

I've seen my parents grieve for their oldest son.I've seen other parents grieve.I know the cost of war and I know the pain of war.War is hell, exactly as described.And you do everything you can To prevent civilian casualties on the other side, Israel has gone to unbelievable lengths.But sometimes you have no choice.

And if you get to the point where people say, no, under no circumstances will we fight, then you'll have to fight under the worst of circumstances.

You mentioned this a moment ago, but I want to probe it a little bit.This idea that a younger generation are on social media or scrolling.Do you believe Israel is at risk of losing this war on that social media platform?front, meaning what is being portrayed, what is being said?And this is particularly, I believe, important in America for younger Americans, Republican and Democrat, who have hardened their selves against Israel, scrolling through images which tell them that there is something not, as you describe, but uncivilized.and they would use words like barbaric in Gaza and in Lebanon.

Are you losing that space?Yeah, let me talk about that in a second.But first, let me say something that your audience probably doesn't know that, as I said a minute ago, Israel has gone to unbelievable lengths to get innocent civilians out of harm's way.We text message millions of text messages to them, make millions of phone calls to them, pamphlets, leaflets, you name it.And whereas Hamas and Hezbollah go out of their way to keep their own people in harm's way, they shoot them.In Gaza they actually shoot civilians who wanted to leave the neighborhoods that we said to them, please vacate those neighborhoods.

So obviously we end up with civilian casualties, but the proportion of civilian casualties, non -combatants to combatants, is one of the lowest in the history of modern urban warfare.So Israel has given a bum rap.One of the ways you can measure genocide is to see the ratio of combatants to non -combatants.And it's probably the lowest that's been in modern urban warfare because of the efforts that we make.Now, all of that is washed away because of what you said, exactly what you said, Major.In other words, we have seen the deterioration of support for Israel in the United States almost, I would say it correlates almost 100 % with the geometric rise of social media.

And that by itself is not what it is.it, and I don't believe in censoring them or anything, but I'll tell you what happened.We have several countries that basically manipulated social media with bot farms, with fake addresses, to break social media.the American sympathy to Israel to break the American -Israeli alliance because they think it's in their interests.And they do it in a clever way.You know, it's like you hear a text message.

I'm a red blooded Texan.I always supported Israel, but I can't stand what they're doing.I'm turning against Israel.And then you trace the address to some basement in Pakistan, you know, and that's that's something that has hurt us badly.While we were fighting the physical military battle on seven battlefields, seven front war, We were completely exposed on the eighth front, the media war, really the social media war.And, you know, we've been busy.

So we haven't seen that while they're attacking us with the equivalent of F -35s, we're trying to fight them with a Polish cavalry.It's like it's almost what happened in World War II.So I think we have to engage on that front, not by censorship, but by finding ways that are applicable to democracies.We can't do what these authoritarian regimes do.but finding ways to fight the battle for the hearts and minds of young Americans on the social media.And that we have to do.

Absolutely.We have a problem.I recognize it.And we have to get our act together.

Do you in any way consider yourself responsible for that problem?

No, because I don't think they're not only attacking Israel.They're attacking America.They're attacking America.They're trying to create ruptures within America, not only between America and Israel, between Americans and Americans.They're trying to say...Foreign operation bot, for example.

Enormous ones.And also getting to your universities, getting to your academic curricula, doing all sorts of things.

That is a true scenario.But do you believe that's the only explanation, or is it possible that some Americans have come to a different sense?

of Israel because of the last two or three years, organically and through their own inquiry?You can track it, actually.I think what they see is so many falsifications and vilifications that are unfounded.But they don't know because they just get it, you know, they just get the last reel in the movie.They don't see the entire movie.But I'll tell you what happens.

We saw that several years before the, you know, before the Gaza war.which definitely caused us a lot of damage because it was misrepresented.But I'll tell you what, it was like the Gaza war was pouring kerosene on a fire that was already there.We could see that happening.We didn't understand it initially.We didn't see when it started going down.

We didn't understand why is it going down?What's happening here?Before the Gaza war.But now we know, we know a lot.We know a lot.And there's that eighth front, but it's not only our front.

It's also your front.You know, so many of Americans, young people say they're not proud to be Americans.I think they should be proud.I mean, without America, we wouldn't have this generation of freedom.We wouldn't have the free societies that we have, the free civilization that we have.And, you know, I think that this is a challenge that not only faces the American -Israeli relationship, it challenges the way America sees itself.

On that point, looking forward, Mr. Prime Minister, do you believe it's time for the State of Israel to re -examine and possibly reset its finances?relationship to the United States, meaning what the United States provides to Israel on an annual basis?Absolutely.

And I've said this to President Trump, I've said it to our own people.Their jaws dropped, but I said, look.What do you mean?What are you saying?What I'm saying is that I want to draw down to zero the American financial support, the financial component of the military cooperation that we have.because we receive $3 .8 billion a year.

Now, it's true you spend trillions of dollars or hundreds of billions and billions of dollars in Afghanistan and so on.And one of your senators said, hell, if we had in Israel instead of Afghanistan, you know, over there, we wouldn't have to spend a trillion dollars.It would be a lot cheaper.But I'm saying it's going to be a lot cheaper because I want to draw down the American support for Israel to zero.We've come of age.We have a booming economy.

After three years of war, our currency is the strongest it's ever been in the last 50 years, maybe more.Our stock market is one of the leading stock markets in the world.It's because we have this very high -tech juggernaut economy, one of the two centers of cross -discipline, breaking technologies, just changing the world.And we have a lot of talent here, which we share with our American friends, and we're going to share it with our Arab friends, too.And I think that it's time that we weaned ourselves from the remaining military support and go from aid to partnership.So, I want to draw it down, and then I want to suggest projects, joint projects, for intel, for weapons, for missile defense.

Israel, I think, has a lot.know, is a leader in this in the world.Many countries come to us for it.I'd like to share it with the United States.We put an exact amount of money.You put the same.

We share the fruits.Exactly.Now, I'm not just speaking here because I did this.We had financial aid when I first came in in 1996.Yes.First time I became prime minister.

And I was invited by the U .S.Congress for a joint session, you know, one of four such sessions.And I was a young prime minister at the time.So I said, you know, you give us financial aid and you give us military aid, which also costs money.So I think we're going to change Israel to be a free market, high tech juggernaut.

And as a result of that, I'm saying that we can wean ourselves of the financial aid that you were given.And all my advisors said, what is he doing?What is he doing for a headline?He's giving up such an important part of the economy.I said, no, it's not a headline.We are going to make this free market revolution, which I led and we did, and Israel indeed became preeminent and really a gigantic force in the economy.

What we did on the economic side, I'm now going to do on the military side and basically have no American financial aid, even on the military side for Israel.

Can you give me a timetable?I said, let's start now.

and do it over the next decade, over the next 10 years.But I want to start now.I don't want to wait for the next Congress.I want to start now.And, you know, it could go down very fast, could go down very fast.But the most important thing, you know, General Keane, who was head of one of your intelligence services, said of what Israel gave to the United States, just on Intel, he says it's worth five CIAs.

Now, I don't know if it's worth five CIAs or one CIA.I respect the CIA a lot.But, you know,tangible matters, Israel is your best ally.It's the only one that really provides you with gems of intelligence, shares our incredible technology, appreciates every penny that you gave us, deeply appreciates.You know, if you go on Israel today, it's not like other countries, like everybody's pro -American because we appreciate what America stands for.

We appreciate the aid that was given.We appreciate what is happening now.We appreciate President Trump's resolute stand and the fact that the American military is performing so miraculously and so bravely alongside our brave people, our brave pilots and soldiers.We appreciate all that.But I want, I think it's time that we ended, over time, an agreed schedule, American military aid and move from aid to partnership.

The British ambassador earlier this year said privately, it's since come out, that Britain does not have a special relationship with the United States anymore.He said if there's a special relationship, it's between Israel and the United States.

From your vantage point, is that correct?I don't always find myself in agreement with British ambassadors, but enough to agree on this one.

I'd like to ask you about what you know, because in our conversations here the last couple of days, we picked up some interesting suggestions about this, about China providing materially valuable military support to what remains of the Iranian regime.True?

China gave a certain amount of support on particular components of missile manufacturing, but I can't say more than that.Does that disturb you?I didn't like it.but I think that if China weighs its interests, does it really want to have Iran controlling the waterways to supply the energy that China needs?Would it not prefer to have open waterways that are not subjected to this kind of violent blackmail?You know, not everything is a zero -sum game.

Just as, you know, if you look about, you think about it, you know, I'm talking about the brilliant future of AI, but there's dangers in AI.a lot of dangers.It's not just a simple proposition.So you have to advance the benefits and contain the dangers.Would it not make sense, and I'm sure it will, for President Trump and President Xi in their upcoming meeting to talk about advancing humanity's benefits out of AI, but jointly controlling the dangers that could be quite frightening.So, you know, it's not everything is a zero -sum game.

And I don't think everything is a zero -sum game when it comes to Iran.Do you really want to have a fanatic regime with nuclear weapons that is committed to Islamist revolutionary revolutions.That's what Iran's constitution says.We're committed to export the Islamist revolution.So China should reconsider.So China I think should think about.

Because it's apparently doing it right now.Could be.Could be.I don't want to speak for China.I don't want to speak also for President Obama.But you have eyes and ears on this.

Yeah, well, you know.But I also have a closed mouth when necessary.

Talk to my colleague, Leslie Stahl, in 2016.You mentioned having a conversation with President Putin about Syria, saying, we don't want an invasion.clash between Israel and Russia.And you worked it out.You said so in that interview.How do you regard Russia's support for Iran now, materially and otherwise?

Is that something that could create an inadvertent clash between Israel and Russia over Iran?Because if it's existentially important to Israel, might it get to that stage?

I think there was a lot of cooperation between them in the beginning phases of the Ukraine war because Iran was supplying drones.

Right.But I mean Russian support for Iran now.

But I have to tell you, there's not been that much support.I don't think it's because of us.I think it's because Iran, or rather Russia maybe, thinks that some of the things that Iran does is not necessarily to its favor.But it's a mixed bag, you know.It's not a direct black and white, you know.Sometimes they have mixed interests.

So they support them on some things and don't support them on other things.

So you detect minimal support from Russia in this conflict?You mean military support?Yes.Direct military support?That's not been a big issue.How about intelligence support?

Let me leave it to what I said.Let's go to Gaza real quick.Again, when you talked to Tony DeCobo back in 2025, this was right after the Board of Peace.He said, we have a chance.We're going to give peace a chance.Subsequently, well, we would have subsequently both the demilitarization and disarmament of Hamas.

Hamas has to give up its arms.You must make sure there are no weapons factories inside Gaza, and there's no smuggling of weapons into Gaza.So four things.Disarmament achieved.No.Demilitarization?

No.Weapons factories?Reduced a lot, yeah.Smuggling into Gaza to refit Hamas?

That's really been curtailed because we envelop Hamas now in Gaza.We envelop and we cut off their supply route, which was the Philadelphia corridor, to the Sinai.Everybody was smuggling those weapons.So two out of two, two out of four.Two out of four.Largely achieved.

But the first two was supposed to be done by Hamas.That was part of the 20 point deal.Right.Unachieved.Well, Hamas promised to do it.And they, you know, violated the deal.

Now what?So somebody has to disarm them.Somebody has to then demilitarize Gaza.I would say disarm, demilitarize, de -radicalize, because you don't want these fanatics there.

Is that Israel's obligation or is that the international community's obligation through the Board of Peace?

Find me the countries who would do it.I said this to our American friends.I said, you know, bring me, it's OK, bring me countries that are sending their troops.They're going to come into Gaza and say to these killers, give up your arms.And you know what those arms are?It's not tanks or artillery.

It's Kalashnikov rifles, AK -47, which they terrorize their people and extort money from them for inflated prices of goods, which they took over.So who's going to do that?You know, if it comes down to us, then we'll have to do it.But we'll choose the time and the circumstances in which to do it because, you know, we've got a few other things.But we are not going to let Hamas ever threaten Israel again.And by the way, their threat from

Gaza has been reduced.We still have a problem in Lebanon with those rockets, but Hamas is not able to pose the threat to Israel now.But you're right, the disarmament and the demilitarization of Hamas has not been done.Hamas has violated its promise to do so, to voluntarily do so.It'll have to be done, could be done the hard way, could be done the easy way.I always prefer the easy way because unlike my caricature image, having been to war, having seen the tragedy of war, having experienced it in my own family, you don't readily dispatch people, young men and sometimes young women, into the battlefield.

So if we have a way to do it, we'll look at other ways as well.

You know, though, Mr. Prime Minister, there is an impression about you that is not exactly the opposite, but that it is a hunger that people perceive in you for conflict.

That's funny, you know, because for years, I was considered, right before the October 7th, I was considered perhaps the most restrained prime minister in Israel's history.I did embark on three major operations in Gaza, but I didn't send our soldiers in there, except to gum up some tunnels.But I didn't want to send them in there because of what I told you.So I was conceived as being, you know, politically tough, but militarily very restrained.Obviously it changed on October 7th because they were going to annihilate us.I didn't think it was just an attack by Hamas.

I saw it as it was.an attack by the Iran Axis to try to annihilate us through a noose of death.So I knew we'd had to tackle Hamas and then Hezbollah and then the Assad regime, which we helped bring down, and then Iran itself and the Houthis.that came later.And I said on the second day of the war, I said, we're going to change the Middle East.We're going to change this condition where they're ganging up on us, thinking they're going to wipe out the one and only Jewish state, wipe out 3 ,500 years of Jewish history.

It's not going to happen.Not on my watch.And I said to the Israeli citizens, not on your watch.They're so brave.The soldiers are so brave.People are so brave that they said, They went with us and we were able to perform miracles because of the strength of the people, because of their sense of history, understanding that history and the Almighty was not going to give the Jewish people another chance.

We came back from the dead, from endless pogroms, expulsions, massacres and the Holocaust.We came back.Are we going to yield to the Ayatollahs and their murderous proxies?No.And this tiny country emerged like a giant, you know, to fight for its life, but not only for our life.Major, I want you to know that in Iran, they named streets after me.

Do you know that?Well, after President Trump, too, obviously, because he's leading the fight.But they have this, I don't speak Farsi, but they have to call me Bibi June, beloved Bibi, Bibi June.They named public squares.And as soon as they put the, you know, they put the signs on, the Revolutionary Guard stared down.But they know that while we're fighting for ourselves, we're fighting for them, too.

They know What few of the leaders in Europe understand, that in fighting here, we're preventing...militant Islam from taking over their countries, which is a process that unfortunately has proceeded quite a lot.They understand that.So I'm very proud of the fact that the Jewish people in Israel and the non -Jewish citizens of Israel banded together, that we put aside our differences.We're a boisterous country.We have divisions and so on.

But at the moment of truth, and in the moments of truth, We stood up together against these barbarians and we're fighting the battle of civilization against the barbarians who couldn't give a hoot about human rights and who not only behead women, but tear out the hearts.I just saw this in Syria by these Islamists.They tear out the heart of a Druze.That's a non -Islamist sect of a Druze man lying out in the park while the man is still twitching.You could say, well, OK, everything is relative.No, it's not.

This is evil, pure evil.And if we don't muster the will, the resolve to stand up to this evil, then we don't have a future.Now, if people accuse me of being militant in fighting this evil, yes, I'm militant in that sense.But I don't seek wars.I've been through them.I've been in battle.

I've seen friends die in battle.

And you would reject any characterization of?

I can't do very much of that, because you can get into the cell phones and you can repeat again and again that I'm a war one.Remember what?Indiscriminate, sometimes used.Yeah, indiscriminate.We're as discriminating, as surgical as any army has ever been in history, not only with the beepers and not only with those leaders in Iran and not only.

But in Lebanon and in Gaza.

In Lebanon, in Gaza, yes, we do everything we can to avoid it.We've killed 2 ,000 people.now since the beginning of the roaring lion, epic fury, and we've been very careful to target them.But if people say that you're a warmonger, and they're repeated ad nauseum, it assumes the cachet of self -evident truth.And that's what's happening.You get into their cell phone, you get the bots, to repeat it.

You show a picture here, a picture there of a tragedy.For us in Israel, every civilian death is a tragedy.For our enemies, it's a strategy.They implant themselves among civilians, you know, so that they have civilian casualties and they can put it on the tube or in your cell phone.So, yes, I mean, I don't know how to fight it.I mean, Churchill, without cell phones and without digital campaigns and farm bots, was labeled a warmonger in the 1930s because he said you have to stand up to Hitler.

And they accused him of being a warmonger.And Hitler didn't even say, death to America, death to Britain, you know.I think he might have planned it, but he didn't say it.And still they accused him of that.

And he won the war and lost the re -election.

He lost, yeah, it happens.

It happens.You know, there's no guarantee.

I mean, I'm, you know, when people say to me, oh, you know, I go in the streets and, you know, people, I have a lot of support here, contrary to what people describe.And they tell me, Bibi, you're a king.And I said, you are, you're a king.I said, I'm not a king.I have to get elected.Kings don't have to be elected.

I have to be elected.Can I have your vote?But that's the reality.You're maligned.I think the difference for the Jewish people is this.We've been maligned.

Anti -Semitism, which has shown its ugly head recently.You see it in America.You see it in Europe.You see it in Australia.we have these horrible attacks, including in the United States, you know, Jews gunned down.Saw this beautiful couple working for our embassy in Washington, gunned down right next to the entrance of the Holocaust Museum in Washington.

And they asked me, what is this resurgence of anti -Semitism?And I tell them, that's exactly what it is.It's a resurgence.For the two millennia in which we were flung to the far corners of the earth, the Jewish people.We suffered expulsion, massacre in one country after the other.We left one country, were massacred, and then left for another.

And always these massacres were preceded by vilification, by slanders.You know, we were spreading vermin.We were, you know, I think probably the people that the Jewish people has a lot of hygienic coats to accuse us of spreading vermin, poisoning the wells, all that stuff.And that always preceded the massacre.Now, what has happened since the rebirth of the Jewish state is that anti -Semitism, this vile vilification of the Jews, took a reprieve after the Holocaust.Took a reprieve.

Took 80 years.It wasn't fashionable to be anti -Semitic, so you didn't say these things in polite society.But it's come back.It's almost like it accompanies us throughout.What is that about?

Mr. Prime Minister, because I want to stop you right there because in my career, which started in 1990 in Washington, up until very recently, it was an established fact in Congress.Established fact.The Republicans and Democrats had a default proposition favorable to Israel.Not always, not universally, but a default proposition.that began with yes, that's not true anymore That's less true than any other time.I've covered Washington.

That has to be reflective of something else Yes, it is.

Well, these are historical cycles, which my father cycle.Yes, we are.I mean anti -semitism is that didn't load?Yes Yeah, I've been full but it flowed throughout our history and the reason it you know But America is not a place where things like that tend to come back.Well, they can come back.They were there in the 1930s with Father Coughlin and they ebbed because of the war, but it's come back.

What is it?I think it's an interesting question of why this happens.And I think there's a natural human tendency between people and also between peoples, collective groups.It's called jealousy.And jealousy often, you know, if somebody is very successful, you can be appreciative of them, especially if it's a very successful and strong country.Then you temper your jealousy and you go to respect.

So these are the embers of envy.I think it's part of it.I don't think it explains all of it.But I think one thing I can say is that there are many explanations for the phenomenon, the durability of anti -Semitism over the ages.My father was a great historian of this.And we can have a separate discussion on it.

But here's the difference.The difference is it seems to be an enduring flow.which sometimes ebbs, as it did in the last 80 years since the Holocaust, and comes back.Even in the best of societies, okay, it comes back.And the difference now is that, whereasevery time it came, it was accompanied by physical massacre, vilification, then massacre, now when they vilify the Jewish state, we don't let the massacre happen.

We have the capacity to fight back.We have valiant soldiers, heroic soldiers who are willing to protect the people that are standing up to rocket attacks, ballistic missile attacks.

Does that intensify the envy then?

I think it elicits respect, actually.Because that's what happens.

And I see that with some of our Arab neighbors.That goes back to what we were saying, this philosophy that you have that when Israel is strong, it extinguishes this sense that it can be eliminated.

You know, you might think that we have this disrespect and this antagonism all over the world, but that's not true.We had a visit here.First of all, many Americans support Israel, respect Israel, have not succumbed to the But the numbers are out of balance in ways they seem to be.Correct.And for the reason I told you, because I think there's been a concerted effort by several states to basically vilify Israel primarily in the social media and the standard media too, but that's less effective.The effective thing is in the social media.

And we have not fought back yet.So we will have to do that.But there are places in the world where Israel elicits enormous respect.One of them is India.India has only a billion point four people, billion point four, a billion and a half people almost.And Israel is very popular in India, very popular.

Prime Minister Modi came here and he was greeted with great affection.But you should see, I was there with my wife, Sarah.We visited India.It was a love fest.And there are other countries too.And let me tell you where that's happening.

It's happening insome parts of the Arab world now.And people don't know that because, you know, what does the New York Times say?It says all the news that's fit to print, they just don't print the news that doesn't fit.That's what happens.So, you know, and they're not the only ones.

I mean, but that's the story.Yes, you have to tough it out.Yes, you have to fight the information war.Yes, you have to speak about the justice of our cause.Yes, you have to puncture the lies that are told about us.But ultimately, you have to have the self -confidence to continue to develop your country, to continue to seek peace through strength with your neighbors, to work with America, to work with President Trump for his vision of ending this thing with Iran, which I think will create a tremendous wave of positive wave.

But all these things require a continuous effort.You don't just, you know, I mean, The Bible talks about, you know, the days will come, you'll each sit under your grapevine.Everybody will, you know, scuttle their swords and so on, and the Messiah will arrive.Well, perhaps, but it's not gonna happen next Thursday, right?So until that happens, until that happy day reaches us, we have to be, free societies have to be strong and have to withstand a lot of attacks, including slanderous and political attacks.

You mentioned October 7th.Nearly all the decision makers in charge of security that day have either been fired or left.Defense minister, head of the military, head of the intelligence, head of the Israeli secret service, head of the Israeli air force.Next month, the head of the Mossad.The only one left is you.What is your level of accountability?

or responsibility for October 7th?

Well, some of them left because their term is up.One or two claimed they took responsibility, but it's not clear what does that mean, you know?What is their responsibility?Let's look at the political echelon, military echelon, the security echelon.Let's look down at everyone and everybody bears some responsibility.Yeah, from the top, from the prime minister down.

Now, let's establish an independent commission.And I proposed a bipartisan commission like the one created after 9 -11, after you had your horrible day.And let's have this bipartisan commission produce any witness, any evidence, anything they want.That's how you get the truth out in a nonpolitical way.That's my proposal.And I think I'll be the first one to go there.

But I think the real issue is, OK, that's October up to October 7th.What about since October 7th?It was clearly my responsibility to get Israel out of this horrible noose of death that the Iranians put on us.And we did, systematically, very resolutely.Go from one of these, each one of these seven fronts, one after the other, and roll back the tide of terror.And I'll tell you what our greatest accomplishment was.

And I can count them.The degradation of their nuclear program, the degradation of their ballistic missile program, the degradation of their military industries, the knocking out of their nuclear of their military command and political command.If I had to cite two things, one on the operational level and one on the broader level.On the operational level, I think the mostpointed success is knocking out 20 top nuclear scientists who are working on the atomic bombs to be used against Israel, America, and anyone else.And 12 were knocked out in the first minute of Operation Roaring Lion, Rising Lion, first minute.

And another eight were knocked out now in the present operation.And I think taking out that amount of know -how, it doesn't eliminate the know -how, but it sets them back.Does it mean that they can't produce a device?No, but it means that if they planned this arsenal of nuclear atomic bombs that they thought they'd have by now, that's gone.It's been pushed back and it's important.They don't have an atomic arsenal, but they would have had it and we would have faced certain death.

So the greatest accomplishment is we're alive.They didn't destroy us and they're not going to destroy us next month because we didn't take that action a year ago and in the intermittent operation.And that's true for you too.They don't have the ability to destroy us now.We were saved.People say, how many people were killed in this or that operation?

Israel is a country of 10 million.

One of the Iranian leaders said, it's a one bomb country.We're not going to let them have that one bomb.That's a tremendous accomplishment.But the other one is this.The other one is that we broke the barrier of fear.For 47 years, Iran has been bullying everybody inside.

They've been murdering people.across the swath of the Middle East and beyond.They've been sending terror everywhere.They've been attacking us and so many others.And they seem to be with immunity.Immunity and impunity.

They can go on doing this.Because it was clear, everybody understood, you cannot fight Iran on Iran's territory.That was a given.And we changed it.And we had our brave pilots and your brave pilots over the skies of Tehran, over the skies of Iran.That changed.

That broke that mask of invincibility.And once that happens, Once that happens, that regime, I think their days are numbered.But it could take a lot of days.I grant you that.And if you say, how long would it take this war?I think a lot has been accomplished in a very short time.

It's not going to take years.It better not take months.

It better not take months?

It may not take months.It depends.You know, it depends a lot.I don't want to put a schedule on it.I think there's a mission schedule.There are goals to be achieved.

But so far, I think an enormous amount has been done in a very short time.

I want to ask you about some developments recently here.Cardinal Pizzabala faced obstacles to pray on Easter.There was a defacement of a crucifix in Lebanon.There was an assault on a nun in Jerusalem.This appears to the eyes of some as a trend line of hostility to Christians.How do you respond to that?

What is your attitude about it?What are you going to do about it?

It's the complete opposite.It's one of those incredible fabrications.If you look at the Middle East, the only place where the community, the Christian community, has not really survived but thrived, grew, it's in Israel.In every other Arab country surrounding us, they've beenyou know, they've been squished, squashed, sometimes massacred, but their numbers are increasing.

These are anomalies.

These things happen.These are not only anomalies.These are things that go contrary to our ethos, to our respect for Christianity.After all, this is, this country is the birthplace of Christianity, which obviously emerged from Judeo -Christian roots.You know that.I know that intimately, because I know the history.

My father's great historian teacher was a man who wrote two seminal books, Jesus of Nazareth and From Jesus to Paul.But when that happens, OK, that guy, that soldier who did that, who, you know, violated, not violated, but tore down a crucifix, he's in jail.That guy who attacked a nun, he's on trial.That the cardinal, the cardinal, the first thing I heard about it, a policeman was saying, I don't want to have anybody on any site, our holy sites, the Jewish sites, the Christian sites and the Muslim sites.When we were being attacked by missiles, we knew that Iran attacked near the Temple Mount, where all these sites are there.We didn't want people to die.

So this guy, you know, said, oh, we're not letting people in.I said, well, you know, you can make an exception for the third ranking man in the Catholic Church.So I intervened immediately and opened the doors.So, you know, policeman trying to do his duty, wrong.A soldier doing something that he shouldn't have done, he's in jail.And the same thing in the other case.

Bad things happen.

Yeah, but they are so opposite of what we have.I just met with some 50 young Christian students.men and women in the army of Israel, serving to defend, you know, they volunteer, they're heroes, and they fight along their Jewish comrades.Why do they do it?Because they know what I've just said is so true.And they say, how can people say that about Israel?

It's the one country that values and protects Christianity.You know, there's a town in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus.When we controlled it, it was 80 % Christian.When we did the Oslo Accords, we handed over Bethlehem to the Palestinian Authority, so we no longer control it.Guess what happened in the intervening years?It went from 80 % Christian to 20 % Christian, 80 % Muslim right now, because the Christians have basically been driven out.

Israel is the one country in the Middle East that protects Christians, that values Christians, that embraces Christianity.We have common roots.We appreciate them.There's an attempt not only to falsify our common history, but also to falsify current events, to seize on these, you know, these aberrations and pretend that this is Israeli policy.That's ridiculous.

One last thing, because we talked a lot about this, the bots, the social media.Is it your belief, Mr. Prime Minister, that nothing that Israel has done, tactically or strategically, has made no mistakes, either in Gaza or the West Bank, that have, in their own way, contributed to this negative impression of Israel, whether it's on social media or someplace else?

No, of course, look, It's war.In war, armies sometimes miss and civilians die.And these are mistakes.These are not deliberate things that happen.But I can say this, in every battle, your forces in Fallujah or in Afghanistan,in other places, they've had to encounter similar things and often much greater casualties in proportion.

But I can say that we have gone to incredible efforts.The Israeli army has done incredible efforts to be as surgical as possible, but that doesn't mean that we don't make mistakes.Of course we do.I mean, I've been in battle.I've seen this myself.You try, but you don't always succeed.

So no, the answer is, of course, we've made mistakes.But we seek to minimize civilian casualties as no other army has done in history.No other army.It's part of our value.It's part of our convictions.It's part of our training.

It's what we impart to our soldiers.And, you know, it pains me to see that Israel, that it goes to these lengths, is vilified in this sense, too.But again, you can say anything because it's this.This is yours, right?You're not immune either because You can penetrate this machine, you can penetrate this little instrument, and you can say about Major Garrett anything you want, and I can paint you as a monster, and if I say it often enough, enough people will believe it.I am not bemoaning this, I'm stating this as a fact.

Israel is besieged on the media front, on the propaganda front, and we've not done well on the propaganda war.We have to fight back against these lies, this propaganda, with the only weapon we have is the truth.I'm trying to do that now, and we'll try to do that in a much greater effort, because we've left the battlefield to our enemies, and boy do they lie.All.

Mr. Prime Minister, it's been a pleasure.Thank you.Thank you very much.Thank you.