What is your response to the ICC seeking an arrest
warrant for you?
Well, I I think my response is no different from
President Biden, who said this is outrageous.
And many people across the political spectrum in the United
States and leaders of democratic countries around the world have
called it exactly that. It's a rogue prosecutor who's out
to demonize the one and only Jewish state.
And he's doing that by first applying a false symmetry.
He's equating
Israel's democratically elected leaders with the
terrorist tyrants of Hamas. That's like saying,
well, I'm issuing arrest warrants for after 911.
I'm issuing arrest warrants for George Bush,
but also for Osama bin Laden.
And in World War 2,
I'm issuing arrest warrants for FDR but also for Hitler.
Thanks a lot. That's a false symmetry.
And it's totally absurd. It's a travesty of justice.
But the other thing he's doing,
he's,
he's using also, Stephanie, just this point.
He's using also false accusations.
He's saying we're drying out Gaza,
drying out Gaza. We're we're supplying now,
before the war, 7% of Gaza's watered.
Now 45% of the water,
nearly half to make sure they have water.
He's saying that we have a deliberate policy of starvation,
deliberate policy. We supplied half a million tons of food
and drugs,
20,000 trucks. We're fixing the road base
so those trucks can go in.
But we've already heard US aid has said famine is
present.
We've heard from Cindy McCain,
who runs the World Food,
the World Food Program, who has said there's massive famine
there.
Are you saying that they're lying?
I'm saying that Cindy McCain,
unfortunately, is misinformed. And I'm saying that the facts prove
otherwise.
We flooded Gaza with humanitarian aid,
but before that, we supplied it with more than minimal
amounts.
And we fixed the road beds,
we fixed the border crossings to make sure that all
these,
all this food and all these supplies go in.
We've enabled air drops, We've enabled maritime routes,
We're building a port That the whole thing of a
deliberate starvation policy is ridiculous and it's put forward by
a guy who doesn't check his is receiving it,
as does do others from the UNRWA and other anti
Israeli agencies and from Palestinian sources.
Look, they said just recently that they discovered that well
they sort of
were misinformed that 10,000 casualties that were so supposed to
be women and children.
Now they say, well, we don't know that.
I mean, so they're fixing it.
You know, it takes time for the truth to come
up.
We can't discount that there has been massive suffering
and deaths. We see it with our own eyes.
But of course, the reason we're all here is because
of what happened on October 7th,
because of the hostages that are still being held.
So let's talk about the path forward,
because President Biden says that your failure to plan for
who will govern Gaza has already allowed Hamas to pop
back up in parts of Gaza.
The IDF is now saying they're fighting Hamas again,
and in northern Gaza. Why should the world believe that
anything will be different after you go into Rafa,
which will obviously cause more suffering?
Well, first of all, the suffering is something that we're
concerned with in Israel has gone to lens that no
other government and no other army in modern urban warfare
has gone to prevent civilian casualties.
For us, every civilian casualty is a tragedy.
For Hamas, every civilian casualty is a strategy.
They're trying to keep them in harm's way,
while we're trying to get them out of harm's way
with millions of leaflets,
phone calls, text messages and so on,
and largely succeeded. But of course not.
It's not perfect. It's obvious,
but we do our best,
and therefore we're held to a standard that no other
army has been held to in history.
So that's the first thing.
The second thing is, in order to finish this,
we have to eliminate the terrorist army and four of
its battalions of its 24 battalions are in Rafa.
When we eliminate them, we'll be able to also get
an alternative governance in Gaza.
That's my goal, to eliminate Hamas,
to ensure demilitarization of Hamas and bring in Gazans who
are not threatened anymore by Hamas and do not share
its goal of destroying Israel to run the civilian administration.
And the third thing would be to rebuild Gaza along
peaceful lines with the help of moderate Arab states.
That's a practical plan. But Stephanie,
it goes through victory. None of these plans have any
meaning if you do not eliminate Hamas.
And if we eliminate Hamas,
then I think that peace is possible,
prosperity is possible, The expansion of peace is possible.
But we need to defeat Hamas and bring our hostages
back home.
They go together and we've already brought half,
half of them back, and we'll bring the other half
back.
This is my goal, and this is what the vast
majority of Israelis support.
And of course, of course,
the idea of peace is extraordinary,
but the path to get there has been devastating.
So I want to talk about the power of Hamas.
back in December, the New York Times reported that you
encouraged payments to Hamas from Qatar shortly before the October
7th attack.
Did you underestimate what Hamas was capable of doing?
Well, first of all, I did everything in in my
power to degrade Hamas military power.
I led the three major military operations
against Hamas, which eliminated about 6000 of their fighters and
some of their key leaders.
But it didn't root them out.
And I think what we're trying to do now is
root them out,
not have them re research again come back out of
Rafa where the four battalions retake the Gaza Strip and
then do what they vowed to do to repeat the
horrible October 7th massacre of raping women,
beheading women, burning babies, taking hostages.
They want to do it over and over again.
We can't let them do it.
As far as the money that was given to them,
it was given to prevent
humanitarian catastrophe, to make sure that the water pumps worked,
that the sewage pumps worked,
the electricity works. That was the goal.
But we did everything in our power to degrade their
military power.
Now we want to root them out and get a
civilian administration that is not beholden to them and is
not beholden to the idea of destroying Israel.
That's the way forward. That was the goal,
Sir. That was the goal.
But October 7th happened and now you're in a full
blown war.
So did you underestimate what Hamas was capable of?
Well, we certainly were surprised on that day,
there's no question about that.
And but we, we got back on our feet immediately
and we're driving Hamas out.
We're doing it in the most difficult,
the most difficult urban warfare conditions of modern times because
they,
they have 35,000 terrorists in a dense urban area,
50 meters above ground, 50 meters in a a
Terra tunnel system of 500 kilometers of Terra tunnels.
And it's enormous. And I think they underestimated the fact
that we could take them out once we once we
turn things around and we are,
and we're committed to doing it,
to finish it, it's not easy.
We're getting a bum rap in the international scene.
I mean, you have this travesty where the leaders of
Israel are
are being called war criminals.
When we're fighting war criminals,
we're fighting these genocidal Hamas monsters.
And then a court that was set up to prevent
the repeat of the Holocaust,
genocide and other such savageries is accusing Israel of
of such crimes. It's absurd.
But, you know, we have to,
you know, we have to fight it.
You know, the way we fight it is by fighting
and winning,
and we will. Are you to blame for that bum
rap?
For 70 years? The Democratic Party in the United States,
for the most part was in lockstep with Israel until
about a decade ago.
Some Democrats blame you for that rift.
What do you say to them?
Well, first of all, I value the bipartisan support,
which is still quite, quite substantial.
And and I think it's a main,
the mainstay of our policy,
our national interest and our policy.
Mind you, 80% of Americans according to the Harvard Harris
Poll.
It's a tracking poll and serious and it shows that
80%
of Americans identify with Israel and not with Hamas
in this conflict and that cuts across party lines.
So that's very important. Now it's true that there is
a fringe element and the,
you know, and the progressive
fringes of the Democratic Party that doesn't identify with Israel,
by the way, doesn't identify that much with America.
And some of these people,
you know, support the demonstration on the campuses.
What do they chant on the campuses?
They said death to America,
death to Israel. They burn American flags.
And I think on the whole,
this is not the Democratic Party,
This is not the Republican Party,
These are not the independents.
This is, this is not mainstream America.
So mainstream America identifies with Israel.
It's very important for me that they continue to do
so,
but it's got nothing to do with me.
It's got a lot to do with them,
where they're going, how they see the world.
Most Americans understand one thing,
that Israel and America stand for common values,
for individual liberty, for individual rights,
for it doesn't make any difference if
if you're white or black or gay or straight or
Israeli or Arab,
you have individual human rights,
but you also have the right of national,
national protection and security. People understand that.
They value that. They see Israel as part of America
and America as part of Israel,
part of that same civilization.
It hasn't changed. But some people,
for some people, they see it differently because they see
America differently.
So they see Israel differently.
And I have to tell you,
that doesn't represent the broad spectrum of American opinion.
And as far as I'm concerned,
maintaining this broad bipartisan support
is an integral part of our policy.
And we'll continue to do everything we can to keep
it.
Well, it's you've had a very special relationship with Donald
Trump,
with his family. NBC News is reporting that you are
currently engaged in close conversations with Trump's team.
Can you confirm that
I'm engaged in close conversations with the President Biden's team,
with the former President Trump's people that anybody who comes
here,
Democrats, Republicans, every day including by the way yesterday
you had Republicans and Democrats come here and
you know I'm and how should I say this,
I'm an equal opportunity visitor and visitor and it's something
that
conforms to the basic policy that I said I want
to make sure that the broad spectrum of American policy
is supported,
supports Israel and that we're open to them hear their
concerns but also let them hear our concerns And that's
I think that's the only productive policy.
So I meet with everyone.
I'll continue to do so.
When was the last time you spoke to President former
President Trump or his son-in-law Jared Kushner?
I saw Jared Kushner, I think 6 months ago,
some a few months ago,
President, former President Trump sent me a note when I
won the elections,
but we haven't spoken since.
But again, I appreciate the support both of President Biden.
What he said yesterday about the
this farce in the international court issuing warrants against the
Prime Minister of Israel,
the defense minister of Israel.
I think when he said it's more than that,
it's outrageous. He's right and I appreciate the support that
he's given us from the beginning of the war.
Let me tell you, I also support and and appreciate
the support that I received from
President Trump that Israel received,
moving the embassy to Jerusalem,
declaring Jerusalem as our capital,
recognizing our sovereignty over the Golan Heights.
I think these are all important things.
That's the continuity that I'd like to see continue.