00:09Jair Lapid
00:30Jair Lapid
01:27Jair Lapid
01:29Netanyahu
01:32but here we are fighting
01:34an existential war
01:36against a regime
01:38that has been spreading terror
01:40that has been trying to
01:41develop nuclear weapons
01:44in order to use them against Israel
01:45that was developing his
01:47ballistic missile operation in order to
01:50shower Israel with missiles
01:51one of them fell next to my mom's house
01:54she's 91 years old, she's
01:55nobody's enemy and
01:57of course that was suppressing
01:59its own people in the most brutal way
02:02so in
02:03the 21st century it is not
02:05easy to have a war
02:08with moral clarity but here we
02:09have a war with moral clarity so
02:11before being the
02:13opposition leader I'm an Israeli patriot
02:15and therefore I'm supporting
02:18a just war. This doesn't come
02:19to say that I agree with everything
02:21Benjamin Netanyahu is doing or saying on other issues
02:24but on this one
02:26we are on the same page
02:27But there is exactly the claims regarding
02:29the criticism of this clarity
02:31this is not exactly clear
02:33for everybody when it comes to the
02:35US and Israeli war on Iran
02:37Why is that? I mean
02:39I've heard people talking about
02:41the international law on the subject
02:44if it wasn't so sad
02:46it would be funny
02:47The last time I've checked the international law was there to protect us from rogue terrorist countries, not to protect
02:57them. These are the people who just killed more than 32,000 of their own people last January when they
03:05took to the streets. This is the people who are fueling Hezbollah and Hamas and the Iraqi Hezbollah with weapons
03:14and money.
03:14These are the people who said they were outspoken about this. They said we want to have nuclear power because
03:21we want to use nuclear power against Israel. Is there anybody in his right mind who believes in the good
03:27intentions of the Iranian regime?
03:29Mr. Lepid, the critics would turn this argument regarding the international law because according to Tehran there are also over
03:381,200 Iranians killed since the beginning of the US-Israeli war.
03:43Yeah, well, these are casualties of war. Nobody killed them intentionally. First of all, you have to doubt their numbers.
03:49But still, nobody is killing them intentionally. We are targeting, the Americans are targeting, this operation is targeting strictly military
03:58targets.
03:59They are targeting Israeli and other countries civilian targets in order to kill as many civilians as possible. I'm not
04:07saying that in every war there are casualties. It's heartbreaking.
04:10Children should not die in grown-ups wars. But still, this is a mistake. What they're doing is trying, in
04:18purpose, to kill civilians. That's exactly the difference between the two countries.
04:23What would be your argument and your comment regarding the school attacked and hit in Iran?
04:29That this is a terrible, terrible, horrible tragedy. And my heart goes to the parents. And again, this is the
04:37kind of things that are happening. It should not happen, but happening in war.
04:41Nobody wanted this to happen. Nobody intended this to happen. And at the same time, the Iranians are targeting, in
04:48purpose, Israeli schools, Israeli hospitals, Israeli civilians.
04:53So this is, again, nobody is claiming that war is not a horrible thing. Sometimes even a just war is
05:00a horrible thing, because there are casualties and there are civilian casualties.
05:03And again, I send my condolences to the parents of those children.
05:07What do you see, what is the clear goal of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran? Is that the regime
05:14change?
05:15I would say there are three goals. First is to obliterate the nuclear program of Iran. Second, to obliterate the
05:23ballistic missile program of Iran.
05:25And third is not to change the regime, because I'm a very small believer in the ability to change a
05:32regime with airstrikes,
05:33but to create better conditions for the Iranian people to take their fate and their destiny into their own hands.
05:41I think last January, when they took to the streets and they were killed by the thousands, by the Bastige
05:47and the Revolutionary Guards, they felt alone.
05:51And I don't think they feel alone right now. I think the conditions and the ability and the probability of
05:56them changing the regime has grown significantly.
06:00Now it's up to the Iranian people.
06:02I don't know if there will be an Iranian Nelson Mandela, an Iranian Gandhi or an Iranian Lech Walesa, but
06:10I hope for their sake, for the people of Iran, there will be and there will be a regime change.
06:16But that was already stated as the goal as well during the 12 days war in June.
06:21And then after those 12 days, the process went into negotiations and now it's been two weeks back from negotiations
06:29to the war.
06:30Is that the cycle? Is it going from the period of war and then negotiations and back to the war?
06:36Hopefully not. What happened was after the 12 days in June, they have signed the truth and then they wanted
06:45negotiations.
06:46And then it was very obvious that these are not real negotiations.
06:50What they really did was trying to stall and buy time in order to rebuild the nuclear program and ballistic
06:58missile program.
06:58It was interesting to me, Stephen Whitcoff, the American mediator, told everybody that during the negotiations in Oman,
07:07the Iranians told him proudly that by now they accumulated enough enriched uranium to build 11 atomic bombs.
07:17So they were not really negotiating.
07:19What they were really doing is deceiving and lying and buying time in order to build weapons of mass destruction.
07:26There are claims that, in fact, it was not the the U.S. president decision to attack Iran and now
07:32to continue two weeks into the war,
07:35but that he was spread on by Israel. Do you think that was the case?
07:38Was Israel pushing hard and pushing the United States into attacking Iran?
07:43Sasha, does Donald Trump strikes you somebody who can be pushed around?
07:47I don't think so. I think I mean, he is the president of the biggest military army in the history
07:54of humanity.
07:54He is a determined man. Israel is filled with gratitude and admiration to his courage,
08:01to his moral clarity on the issue, to the fact he decided to go to this war,
08:05understanding this is protecting peace on Earth.
08:09So, no, I don't think somebody, there's a person, well, maybe with the exception of Melania,
08:15I don't think anybody can push Donald Trump to do anything he doesn't want to do.
08:19Let me ask you about the wider region, because given Iran's proxy networks in the region,
08:25do you see them as part of Israel's strategy in the ongoing war and what, you know, how to deal
08:31with that?
08:32Because, for example, when it comes to Lebanon, Israel has a long and rather complicated history with Lebanon.
08:37Do you think Israel can defeat Hezbollah by force?
08:41This is when the escalation is getting bigger and wider.
08:45I agree. Well, first of all, we have to remember who decided to make this bigger and wider.
08:50I mean, Iran started this war by bombarding the EU, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman,
08:58all those countries who's done them no harm just because they wanted to escalate everything.
09:03Part of this escalation is using the proxies. You're right.
09:07Last night, there were more than 200 launches from Hezbollah towards Israel.
09:12Israel is stronger than Hezbollah. We're going to strike back.
09:15We're going to strike back in a painful way.
09:20It needs to be dealt. But this is also a problem of the Lebanese government.
09:24When I was prime minister, I signed an agreement with the Lebanese government trying to improve the relationship.
09:31But Lebanon will not exist as a country, as a sovereign country,
09:35if they will let Hezbollah keep on doing whatever they want to do from Lebanon.
09:40So now we are hitting Beirut and we are hitting southern Lebanon.
09:44But I think it's in everybody's interest and first and foremost Lebanon's interest
09:49to make sure Hezbollah doesn't join this and stop shooting at Israel because the price will be painful.
09:56Well, Lebanese government said it was willing to enter direct negotiations with Israel.
10:00Is that something that Israel would be open to?
10:02This is, well, if it was up to me, I would do it.
10:05I think I would, I would do it. I would use this like a scissor effect.
10:09I would fight Hezbollah fiercely.
10:11I would go into southern Lebanon if necessary, making sure Hezbollah is pushed over the Litani River.
10:17And while doing it, negotiate with the Lebanese government because it's their problem as well.
10:23Right now, it's up to the Lebanese people to determine whether it's a country with a terror organization
10:31or a terror organization with a country.
10:33If Lebanon wants to be a real country, then they need to do much more in controlling Hezbollah.
10:39Mr. Lupit, with this war now in the Second War, entering the Third War, with Hezbollah joining the escalation
10:48and the whole spillover over the Gulf region, is this now turning into a bigger and ultimately never-ending war?
10:56I don't think so.
10:57I think many of the goals of the war are achievable.
11:01I think Iran made a huge mistake because what they did was, they thought that if they will bomb the
11:07neighbors in the Gulf,
11:09this will create pressure on Washington because all those countries will go to Washington and say to the president,
11:14listen, you have to stop the war, this is killing us.
11:17Instead, they have, by their own doing, created the coalition they always feared of.
11:23Right now, we are on the same coalition with the Saudis, with the Emirates, with the Omanis, with everybody,
11:29opposite Iran's rogue violence, opposite their try to burn everything and everyone.
11:38And on the long-term and not so long-term, I think this is going to have a rebound effect
11:46against Iran.
11:47So, no, I don't think this will be a never-ending war.
11:50Thank you very much for your time, Ray Lapid, leader of the opposition in Israel.
11:54Thank you.
11:55Thank you, Sasha.
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