00:01The war in Gaza and Iran, the pressure of the international community,
00:06the thousands of lives affected by this conflict
00:08are part of what we are going to talk about tonight
00:14with the President of the State of Israel, Isaac Herzog,
00:18on a historical visit to our country.
00:20Mr. President, thank you so much for joining us.
00:23Thank you for inviting me.
00:25Mr. President, how do you respond to those who claim
00:29that the Israeli offensive has gone beyond the legitimate right to self-defense?
00:35I say to everybody, if you really want to judge,
00:37come over to Israel and see for yourself.
00:39We did not seek this war.
00:41On October 7th, we were attacked by thousands of terrorists
00:45who violated our international recognized boundary,
00:49who butchered and raped and burnt and took hostage
00:53of innocent civilians and killed so many.
00:57mostly, by the way, those who supported peace,
01:00mostly with the Palestinians in Israel.
01:02And since then, the entire Middle East has changed.
01:05Because following that, proxies of Iran,
01:09the big long arms of the Iranian Empire of Evil,
01:13attacked us from Lebanon, from Yemen, and of course from Iran.
01:18And the rest is history.
01:19And when you are bombarded by missiles of half a ton,
01:23you fight back, you eradicate the regime, the leadership,
01:27you undermine their capabilities,
01:29and you bring a historic shift in the Middle East.
01:33Was it necessary for 70,000 people to die in Gaza
01:37in order to neutralize Hamas?
01:39It's really tragic and painful.
01:42And every innocent civilian tears my heart.
01:46I can tell you that the numbers are heavily distorted.
01:50But we assume, even if there are innocent civilians,
01:56and there probably are,
01:58it's the conditions of war that are the ones who are dictating it.
02:01Meaning, the whole infrastructure in Gaza is a terror city underneath.
02:08Hundreds and hundreds of kilometers of tunnels,
02:11full of ammunition,
02:14missiles that were smuggled and produced,
02:17bombs and equipment.
02:18All the money that the international community
02:20poured into Gaza for the well-being of its people
02:24went to a whole huge city of terror underneath.
02:28Now, if you're a soldier, a commander,
02:30you go in, we alert in advance according to international law,
02:34we send leaflets and text messages,
02:37we say by loudspeaker,
02:38and we go into a neighborhood.
02:41And the battle is fierce and heavy.
02:43And in many cases,
02:45Hamas took these people as hostages,
02:47or simply neglected them.
02:50So, unfortunately, there were sad cases.
02:53But, I can tell you that we operate strictly
02:57according to our right of self-defense
02:59and the rules of international law.
03:01Since the ceasefire in Gaza,
03:03there have been reports that Israeli armed forces
03:06continue to carry out attacks in the strip.
03:10What then, Mr. President, is the value of a ceasefire?
03:12No.
03:13So, let's put things in perspective.
03:16There is a Security Council resolution,
03:19for the first time in a long time,
03:22with almost unanimous support,
03:24saying we are now moving to a ceasefire
03:27and the next stage in Gaza,
03:30which is to disarm Hamas,
03:32meaning Hamas has to give up their weapons,
03:34can become a political party,
03:37can join the political game in the Palestinian arena,
03:42and enable somebody, this technocratic government,
03:47to lead Gaza.
03:49Months have gone by and nothing happened.
03:52Hamas is not willing to give up its arms,
03:54is not willing to cooperate with anybody,
03:57simply procrastinating.
03:59The technocratic government in Cairo is not coming in,
04:03because Hamas is refusing to give up its arms,
04:06and it's a merry-go-round.
04:08And meanwhile, they have terrorists attacking us.
04:11That's the tragedy of it all.
04:13The people of Gaza,
04:14two million people, deserve better.
04:16They deserve a good life.
04:18We want to have a good life for them near us.
04:21They are part and parcel of our life, always.
04:24But it cannot be that there will be a terror infrastructure
04:28repeating October 7th again.
04:30And this is what shattered the trust of Israelis
04:33in the peace process.
04:34We were sure we were on track on the peace process,
04:37including regional peace.
04:39And all of a sudden it blew up by this terror attack.
04:42Now you have to get Hamas out.
04:43You have to get Hezbollah out of Lebanon.
04:45It's the same way.
04:46You have to stop the arming by Iran.
04:49You have to hit on Iran so that it stops its empire of evil,
04:53and things will change for the better in the future.
04:56What strategy is Israel pursuing
04:58to confront the international criticism
05:00that rightly or wrongly believes that Israel
05:03is responsible for the largest conflict
05:07currently unfolding in the Middle East?
05:09Of course, Iran, Gaza, Lebanon,
05:12and as well the economic crisis
05:14caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
05:17Now you're mixing, unfortunately,
05:19too many things together.
05:20This war was waged by Hamas as a proxy of Iran.
05:25Thereafter Hezbollah joined from Lebanon,
05:28violating an agreement,
05:30a ceasefire agreement of 18 years.
05:33And after we killed Nasrallah
05:36and we broke the backbone of Hezbollah
05:39and we came to a ceasefire in 1924,
05:41now they violated it again.
05:43So what do we do?
05:44We let our people be like hanging there,
05:48shooting at them all the time in the northern border.
05:50Then you've got Iran.
05:53Iran rushing to a nuclear weapon,
05:55which is the biggest danger in the world.
05:57And then Iran rushing to 20,000 ballistic missiles.
06:01This was a clear American decision
06:03of President Donald Trump to attack them,
06:07the head of the snake,
06:07and we definitely joined in making sure
06:10that we are protected.
06:11That's the way we are.
06:13If we really want to change the course of history,
06:16we must not allow Iran to have nuclear weapons,
06:20not to have long-range missiles,
06:21and they must stop with their terror activity.
06:25And don't forget,
06:25Iran just butchered 50,000 of its people in the streets.
06:29It's not Israel's fault.
06:31It's a whole ideology of jihadist nature
06:34that wants to eradicate any Christian,
06:38any Jew, and by the way, any moderate Muslim.
06:40Why was this the decisive moment
06:43for a military intervention of this magnitude?
06:46Because we saw in clear-cut intelligence,
06:51which was shared also by the United States and others,
06:56how they are rushing to the bomb.
06:57It's not something that's done public.
06:59It's something that is done clandestinely,
07:03hidden operations all over with installations.
07:06They took out all the scrutiny
07:10of the International Atomic Agency in Vienna.
07:15They did not allow inspectors to come in.
07:17They lied.
07:18They brought in equipment, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
07:21And we knew for sure that they are rushing to the bomb.
07:24And they were not far away from the bomb.
07:26And had they had the bomb,
07:27the Middle East would be gone into their hands.
07:29This is the most dangerous development
07:32because you could see in the war now
07:34with the United States and Iran,
07:36they used missiles that are 4,000 kilometers
07:40all the way to Diego Garcia from Iran,
07:43meaning that's how far it goes, way beyond London.
07:48They have strategic plans, guys.
07:51The world should wake up.
07:52And I know it's not easy for somebody in Costa Rica
07:56to understand this because, thank God,
07:58you're blessed by God in a peaceful region
08:02and in a peaceful country.
08:04But judge it from our angle.
08:07This is the only Jewish nation state in the world.
08:11We are tiny and small.
08:12We are protecting ourselves.
08:14But the issue is much larger than that.
08:16They are threatening the free world.
08:18And I say to all my European friends,
08:21we are doing your war.
08:22We are defending Europe by taking this war on our shoulders
08:27with the United States.
08:28Following what President Trump said,
08:31Iran and the United States appear to be close to reaching an agreement,
08:35right, in which among the key points,
08:37Iran would commit to a 15-year moratorium on uranium enrichment.
08:42Will that be enough for Israel?
08:44We say we trust the United States in their negotiations.
08:49It's obvious.
08:50And we know that they know the main objective is to make sure
08:54Iran does not have the capability of getting to a weapon.
08:58The enriched uranium, which is hidden in these very sophisticated tunnels
09:04in various sites, has to be taken out.
09:07And this is part of the negotiations.
09:09Now, the blockade comes because of the Iranian operation in the Hormuz straits.
09:17Freedom of navigation is not recognized by Iran.
09:20Here, you know that.
09:21You are a country that knows what it is, maritime freedom.
09:24They are blocking maritime freedom,
09:27and therefore the world has to fight them.
09:29They are attacking United Armour Emirates with huge missiles.
09:33They have cruise missiles on us, on Oman, all the way to Turkey.
09:38They are just sending it all over the region.
09:41It's a wake-up call for the entire region.
09:44Are you going to be part of this possible agreement?
09:46I'm sure that our government and our prime minister will be fully informed about the agreement.
09:51There's very close relations between the president and the prime minister on all of these topics.
09:58Understanding that the Iranian regime is one of the main sources of funding of these groups
10:02that are considered terrorist organizations.
10:05Taking their people's money, their people's food, and spending it on terror.
10:10What do you believe would happen if the regime were to fall?
10:14Will that mean the end of Hamas and Hezbollah?
10:16Well, I hope it will fall one day. I don't know when.
10:20I think the people are fed up. They are going through hell.
10:23And we have no conflict with the Iranian people.
10:26We respect the Iranian people.
10:28We respect their culture and we respect their history.
10:31But they were taken over by a very brutal dictatorship,
10:36which has no mercy for anybody.
10:38And one day it will happen because that's what happens to dictators.
10:43And in my mind, if that regime falls and there's a change in Iran,
10:48the whole region will change.
10:50We had relations with Iran up until 1979 or et cetera.
10:55We had very good relations with Iran and it was actually a very impressive Jewish story
11:02with a wonderful Jewish community.
11:04We understand that Lebanon and your country will hold a new round of peace talks
11:08on May 14 and 15 in Washington.
11:10That's a great piece of news.
11:12But Hezbollah is blocking any possibility of getting to the deal.
11:16What expectations do you have about this meeting?
11:19I hope that it will be now with further details.
11:24There's one question.
11:25Who is the sovereign in Lebanon?
11:28If the sovereign is the Lebanese government, the Lebanese president,
11:33they can do a deal with us.
11:35They have to get Hezbollah, which is a terror organization,
11:39a kind of an army of their own, to stop operating and enabling the Lebanese army to take over.
11:46Do you believe that the two-state solution today is a threat to Israel?
11:52It's a huge issue in our political discourse.
11:55You know, I come from the Labour Party.
11:58I always spoke about the possibility of having a peace deal and two-state solution.
12:03But the real issue is, what can we offer now to the people that's viable?
12:08Why?
12:08Because following October 7th, it was a wake-up call also for Israelis who said,
12:13why should we give up any border and any land if we will always be attacked?
12:17A very strong issue.
12:19Now we're in elections.
12:20There will be elections in Israel in September or October.
12:24This is one of the thorniest issues in the political discourse.
12:28So I don't intend to take direct sides on it.
12:32But I believe that the real grand vista, the grand vision should be
12:36that based on the regional cooperation and peace that we have on the arms of the Abraham Accords
12:42and the peace agreements we already have, we can then move towards a dialogue with the Palestinians.
12:49Now, Mr. President, I would like to briefly address a domestic issue in your country.
12:54We know that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing corruption allegations.
12:58If a plea deal is not reached, will you pardon him?
13:01So I'm pressing for a plea deal.
13:03And I've called upon the sides to come and mediate under my auspices.
13:11And I hope that they will agree.
13:13I got confirmation from the prosecution.
13:16I hope to get confirmation from Netanyahu's side.
13:19I think it will be a mistake not to do so.
13:22I think the right way is to get to a plea bargain.
13:26I would like to end this interview, of course, by talking about your beset.
13:29This is the first time Costa Rica is hosting a president of Israel.
13:32So what does your beset mean for both countries?
13:36This is an amazing visit.
13:38I always dreamt of getting to Costa Rica.
13:42We always learned about Costa Rica's affinity with the state of Israel.
13:47I was honored to be invited by President Chavez to honor the swearing in of President Fernandez.
13:56I met with both.
13:58They're incredible friends of Israel and they've shown immense leadership.
14:02I met with Foreign Minister Tobar.
14:05We also discussed the free trade agreement.
14:08And I believe now it's a golden opportunity to triple the amount of business and trade between the countries for
14:15the benefit of the nations in so many fields.
14:18You have incredible nation.
14:20We have an incredible nation.
14:21We share so many things from high-end technology to agriculture and science.
14:29And what's not?
14:30Everything is on the table.
14:32All we need now is business delegations, visits of ministers, and the sky is the limit really.
14:39And there is so much to do together and a lot of love between the peoples.
14:44And I came here to express gratitude to Costa Rica and the people of Costa Rica for their incredible support
14:51of Israel throughout the ages.
14:53And I was honored to walk in the stadium and be cheered by ordinary citizens of Costa Rica.
15:00Thank you very much, Mr. President, for speaking with us.
15:02Thank you very much, Mr. President, for speaking with us.
15:04Continuamos con más de siete días.
15:06I did not continue working with you.
15:06For your family, be peaceful to help save the massana to my children, not only for someанthologists.
15:06All the top and话,готовast guests, into part of the society.
15:08If there's even more money in the basement.
15:08You wouldn't go anywhere, share that much food for a Everyday?
15:09So well, if I needed a lot of ac alguac supplication and stuff on and I have a lot of.
Comments