00:00Hi Ben, thank you for doing this with us. I want to understand from you, though there is a ceasefire,
00:04but yesterday we heard that there was a strike from Israel and 20 people were killed in Lebanon. How do
00:10you explain that, is there targets really Hezbollah or local civilians are also being killed in this?
00:16So again, the IDF only targets Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure and Hezbollah terrorists, and I think we need to take a
00:21step back and also talk about the situation. You have on one hand the army of a sovereign nation that
00:27is protecting its civilians and doing everything to protect its civilians, and on the other hand of the equation, an
00:31illegitimate terrorist organization that's looking to advance Iranian interests and kill Israeli civilians.
00:36We take a lot of precautions to target specifically terrorist infrastructure. We're operating south of the forward defensive line, under
00:43the prerogative of a ceasefire and the prerogative of a political echelon, and we continue to operate to protect our
00:47civilians.
00:48But the right groups are saying, multiple right groups are claiming that civilians are being killed, they are being pushed
00:54out of their homes. How do you explain that? And there is also a war of information that paramedics are
01:00being killed and are being targeted by IDF. How do you explain that?
01:04Look, I think there's a lot of interest at hand to people who want to advance narratives that the IDF
01:08is specifically targeting civilians, and I can tell you 100% it's not true.
01:12Now to say that in the guise of war that there aren't civilian lives lost, of course there are civilian
01:16lives lost. That's what happens when you have a terrorist organization entrenched in civilian areas.
01:21And I want to tell you something honestly, you know, I've sat in those rooms behind the scenes. The IDF
01:24sees every civilian life loss as a tragedy. We investigate civilian life loss.
01:28We take a lot of precautions to make sure that they're not lost. And with that being said, the level
01:34of narrative that is being put out in the media that says that the IDF is targeting civilians just doesn't
01:38match the reality.
01:39The majority of the lives lost in this war are Hezbollah terrorists that were intending to kill Israeli civilians. That's
01:45because of that precision, and the statistics show that.
01:48Time and again we are hearing from IDF and Israeli authorities that Hezbollah decimated, but the operation continued. How do
01:56you explain that, and what is the end goal here?
01:59So Hezbollah is a terrorist organization that built over the course of decades the means, and obviously all along the
02:06way, with the intent to target civilians inside of Israel in a lot of different ways.
02:10Over the course of the war over the last two and a half years, we've significantly degraded those military capabilities,
02:14whether it be their aerial array, whether it be their command and control.
02:17But at the end of the day, all you need is intent and one weapon to be able to kill,
02:21and we can't allow for that intent and those weapons to be able to kill our civilians.
02:24So can there be a peace with Lebanon in longer future? Do you see?
02:28I hope so. As an Israeli civilian, I hope so. Our goal is to defend our civilians. We have nothing
02:33against the people of Lebanon, the government of Lebanon, the Lebanese army. We have nothing against them.
02:38We're operating against a terrorist organization aligned with Iranian interests to kill Israeli civilians.
02:42So my last question would be about the entire war, not just with Lebanon, but with Hezbollah, sorry, but the
02:48entire war with Iran. How do you see that panning out?
02:51Do you see a window of opportunities opening up with the talks happening? How do you see it? How will
02:58this help Israel in understanding the entire situation?
03:03So again, the IDF, we're an operational body. Our goal is to defend Israeli civilians, and we remain on high
03:08alert.
03:08We understand that, you know, a few thousand kilometers away, there's an Iranian terrorist regime that still wants to destroy
03:14Israel. It still wants to kill Israel.
03:17Obviously, we spend a lot of time militarily removing and decapacitating capabilities to be able to carry out that goal,
03:24and we stay on high alert, and we operate in accordance to the directives of the political echelon.
03:28So again, we're going to be able to carry out that goal, and we're going to be able to carry
03:31out that goal, and we're going to be able to carry out that goal.
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