Latest / Sid & Friends In The Morning / Mike Huckabee | United States Ambassador to Israel | 06-12-26
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Live in Israel this morning. Can't wait to see him
- 0:02Speaker 1: next week. My friend Mike Huckabee, Mike, good morning. How
- 0:06Speaker 1: Why are you, mister ambassador.
- 0:08Speaker 2: I'm doing great, Shid, You're always doing great. So if
- 0:11Speaker 2: I could just hang out with you, I'll be doing better.
- 0:14Speaker 1: You're sweet. You are very very nice, Michael. Thank you,
- 0:17Speaker 1: And I did say good morning, say afternoon. Where you are?
- 0:19Speaker 1: And you know, my daughter is there right now, Mike.
- 0:22Speaker 1: I've got one daughter and one son and she's twenty
- 0:25Speaker 1: two and she's been in tele Aviv for the week
- 0:27Speaker 1: and she calls me every hour, Daddy. What's Trump going
- 0:30Speaker 1: to do next? And what's going to happen? Because there's
- 0:32Speaker 1: still a sense of fear in Israel that even though
- 0:35Speaker 1: Israel is not involved in the latest bombing campaign, that
- 0:39Speaker 1: you know, they may get hit. But I got to
- 0:40Speaker 1: tell you before we get to all that, my daughter
- 0:43Speaker 1: today is doing something that I want the LGBTQ community
- 0:47Speaker 1: to hear. Well, the queers for Palestine, Mike, you know
- 0:50Speaker 1: all these people. My daughter today is going to a
- 0:54Speaker 1: huge gay pride parade in Tel Aviv. That is the
- 0:59Speaker 1: democracy see that is Israel. So for all the folks here,
- 1:03Speaker 1: the LGBTQ community queers for Palestine genocidal. We've got the
- 1:08Speaker 1: biggest gay pride parade in the Middle East? Does that
- 1:10Speaker 1: not speak to the great democracy that is Israel.
- 1:15Speaker 2: I think a lot of people may not understand that
- 1:18Speaker 2: there are not any of those kind of parades going
- 1:21Speaker 2: on anywhere else in the region. So whatever you may
- 1:24Speaker 2: think of whether there ought to be a full month
- 1:26Speaker 2: of gay Pride, that's not the issue. The point is
- 1:29Speaker 2: that in Israel there is freedom. There is freedom of speech,
- 1:32Speaker 2: there is freedom of association, there is freedom of religion.
- 1:36Speaker 2: People can be not just Jewish, they can be Christian,
- 1:39Speaker 2: they can be Muslims, they can be atheist, and they
- 1:41Speaker 2: have a place and it's one of those things that
- 1:44Speaker 2: you cannot say that of countries in the rest of
- 1:48Speaker 2: this region. So for all of the talk about Israel
- 1:51Speaker 2: being apartheid er genocidal, it's all absolute blood libels. And
- 1:56Speaker 2: the truth is there is an extraordinary life that people
- 2:00Speaker 2: live here. It's not perfect, but no country is, including
- 2:05Speaker 2: the one that I love the most, the United States
- 2:07Speaker 2: of America. But it is a remarkable place where the
- 2:11Speaker 2: standard of living is better than anything in the region,
- 2:14Speaker 2: and the freedom and the capacity to choose one's future
- 2:19Speaker 2: is amazing, and the innovations, the technology. It's a pretty
- 2:24Speaker 2: remarkable place. And one thing that when people in the
- 2:28Speaker 2: US talk about is well, they think that everybody here
- 2:30Speaker 2: is hunkered down and just scared to death. The truth
- 2:32Speaker 2: is Israelis wake up every day. They know people have
- 2:35Speaker 2: guns and cannons and missiles pointed at them, but they
- 2:39Speaker 2: wake up every day and they live their lives with
- 2:41Speaker 2: a real sense of zest and celebration. And it's the
- 2:46Speaker 2: resilience of the Israelis that is amazing.
- 2:48Speaker 1: Couldn't agree more. And now that you've brought it up,
- 2:51Speaker 1: a full month of gay pride is ridiculous. I'm sorry,
- 2:54Speaker 1: but I feel that way about everything. There shouldn't be
- 2:56Speaker 1: Black Month, there shouldn't be Gay month. I wouldn't want
- 2:58Speaker 1: Jewish Month. Okay, give me one. Have you parade like
- 3:01Speaker 1: we do is Mondy Day Parade in New York. Have
- 3:03Speaker 1: a good time, and that's it. The whole month thing
- 3:05Speaker 1: I think becomes perverse. That's just my opinion. But let
- 3:08Speaker 1: me get back to my daughter too on Israel, because
- 3:11Speaker 1: again she's been nervous, so for me, it was kind
- 3:13Speaker 1: of twofold. Last Mike I really wanted President Trump to
- 3:19Speaker 1: hammer Iran two months ago. You remember that Tuesday night.
- 3:23Speaker 1: That Tuesday night he was going to light up the sky.
- 3:25Speaker 1: Civilization was going to end as we know it, and
- 3:28Speaker 1: you didn't do it. He gave him another ten days,
- 3:31Speaker 1: and I want him to do it then, and I
- 3:32Speaker 1: still want him to do it. But on the other hand,
- 3:35Speaker 1: my daughter is there. I want to go there next Thursday,
- 3:38Speaker 1: and I know that if we really really do damage
- 3:43Speaker 1: in Iran that eventually they're gonna get to Israel and
- 3:46Speaker 1: that's going to put those people in danger. So for me,
- 3:49Speaker 1: I'm kind of conflicted. On one hand, I want President
- 3:52Speaker 1: Trump to do what he really should have done two
- 3:54Speaker 1: months ago, which is just annihilate him. But on the
- 3:57Speaker 1: other hand, I'm worried about relatives and people in it.
- 4:00Speaker 1: What Israel who brook this up of the consequences because Mike,
- 4:03Speaker 1: they can't hit Little Rock, they can't hit Brooklyn with Cincinnati,
- 4:07Speaker 1: but they can certainly hit Televiv.
- 4:10Speaker 2: They most certainly can. And now they have the capacity,
- 4:13Speaker 2: as we know, because they shot a missile forty one
- 4:17Speaker 2: hundred kilometers, not just two thousand, which before even the
- 4:20Speaker 2: last year was their range, which means they can pretty
- 4:23Speaker 2: much hit any city in Europe, and that threat ought
- 4:27Speaker 2: to make the Europeans have a different posture, but unfortunately
- 4:30Speaker 2: nothing seems to get them off their bubble. And that's
- 4:33Speaker 2: that's a whole nother discussion. But one thing I would
- 4:38Speaker 2: just say is that there is a different posture that
- 4:41Speaker 2: Israel has than any other country in the region because
- 4:43Speaker 2: they know that they have always been under threat. So
- 4:46Speaker 2: they have ubiquitous shelter systems throughout the country, and they
- 4:50Speaker 2: have a missile defense system that is so sophisticated that
- 4:53Speaker 2: ninety two percent of the incoming missiles from Iran were intercepted,
- 4:58Speaker 2: and the ones that weren't did minimal damage. It really
- 5:03Speaker 2: was remarkable because in six weeks a very very intense combat,
- 5:08Speaker 2: there was less damage to significant structures and to civilian
- 5:13Speaker 2: targets and to major assets than there was in the
- 5:16Speaker 2: twelve day war of last summer. So even our mission personnel,
- 5:20Speaker 2: we obviously closed mission facilities, we had people working from home,
- 5:24Speaker 2: we were sheltering in place, we were taking all the precautions.
- 5:28Speaker 2: It would shock most Americans to know that not one
- 5:31Speaker 2: person was injured or killed who was in the shelter
- 5:35Speaker 2: at the time of a missile attack. Not one said.
- 5:38Speaker 2: That's unbelievable if you stop and think about it. A
- 5:41Speaker 2: ballistic missile is the size of an eighteen wheel truck
- 5:44Speaker 2: and it comes in at hundreds of miles an hour
- 5:47Speaker 2: supersonic speed with a significant warhead. And the fact that
- 5:52Speaker 2: no one was killed or injured if they went into
- 5:55Speaker 2: the shelter they were supposed to is just a remarkable
- 6:00Speaker 2: I would call it a miracle. Yeah, I agree with you.
- 6:03Speaker 1: This is the amazing ambassador Mike Huckabee live in Israel
- 6:06Speaker 1: this morning. So let's say that this deal goes through
- 6:10Speaker 1: the next couple of days. Here's my fear, Mike Cookabie, Okay,
- 6:15Speaker 1: and it's a legitimate fear. I saw this deal already.
- 6:18Speaker 1: And you know, I love Trump. I love him, I
- 6:20Speaker 1: adore him. He loves me too. We've got an unbelievable
- 6:24Speaker 1: relationship like you two guys have. But I saw this
- 6:27Speaker 1: deal already.
- 6:28Speaker 2: Okay.
- 6:28Speaker 1: So somewhere in this deal, once Iran acts like they're
- 6:33Speaker 1: going to comply, and they're not going to. I don't
- 6:36Speaker 1: care what piece of paper they signed, they're not gonna comply.
- 6:39Speaker 1: Ever they did it with Obama, They're gonna do it
- 6:41Speaker 1: to Trump, Okay, And somewhere in this deal, I know
- 6:45Speaker 1: they're gonna get money. And when they get their sanctions
- 6:49Speaker 1: loosened up, what do they do. They don't build hospitals, Mike,
- 6:52Speaker 1: they don't build schools. Now they find more ways to
- 6:56Speaker 1: get uranium even with a deal in place, or they'll
- 6:59Speaker 1: give money to their there of proxies, Chris Bola, Camas
- 7:02Speaker 1: and the Hutis. I can't think of any deal that
- 7:05Speaker 1: I would call even decent if somewhere down the road,
- 7:10Speaker 1: maybe sooner than later, Iran gets money. That's my fear.
- 7:16Speaker 2: It's a legitimate fear. And even though those are very
- 7:22Speaker 2: clear things that are being said in the open press,
- 7:25Speaker 2: I've come to realize, don't take the press's word at
- 7:29Speaker 2: what President Trump will do, because I have a real
- 7:33Speaker 2: sense of trust in his instincts. A lot of times,
- 7:37Speaker 2: even I've heard things that maybe he would say in
- 7:40Speaker 2: a press conference and I'm thinking, oh, what does that mean?
- 7:43Speaker 2: But when he got down to it, this is a
- 7:44Speaker 2: person who has kept his promises, and he has said
- 7:47Speaker 2: there will be no nuclear enrichment. Ron will never have
- 7:50Speaker 2: nuclear weapons, and we're not going to give them money.
- 7:54Speaker 2: So I'm just going to take what he said rather
- 7:56Speaker 2: than what the press says. He says, yeah, and stick
- 7:59Speaker 2: with that because I have a in a confidence that
- 8:03Speaker 2: this is a man who has led in a way.
- 8:06Speaker 2: I've never seen a president as strong as he is,
- 8:10Speaker 2: never seen one who did what he said as effectively
- 8:13Speaker 2: as he has. And I'm gonna put my money on
- 8:16Speaker 2: him right now.
- 8:17Speaker 1: Me too, Me too. But you know, there are people
- 8:20Speaker 1: that are saying, come on, man, He's like the boy
- 8:21Speaker 1: that cried Wolf. You know, he keeps telling you, Ron,
- 8:25Speaker 1: we're gonna hammer you. We're gonna hammer you. Ah, you
- 8:27Speaker 1: know what, We'll wait ten days. And there are some
- 8:30Speaker 1: not supporters like you and I because I'm with you,
- 8:33Speaker 1: Mike beat in love, I'm with him, and I think
- 8:35Speaker 1: he'll eventually win until we have to do. But there
- 8:37Speaker 1: are some pretty ardent Trump supporters, Mike that are saying,
- 8:40Speaker 1: come on, man, I mean, you know at some point
- 8:43Speaker 1: that Ryan's gonna just laugh anytime you threaten them.
- 8:46Speaker 2: Is that any I think it's fair for people to
- 8:50Speaker 2: wonder into question that that's fair because all they have
- 8:53Speaker 2: is what they see, what they get from the press.
- 8:56Speaker 2: But here's what I would say to them, Wait until
- 9:00Speaker 2: we're in the final ticks of the clock of this game.
- 9:03Speaker 2: I've been to a lot of basketball, baseball, and football games.
- 9:07Speaker 2: If I thought were going south on the team I
- 9:09Speaker 2: was rooting for, and then it turns out that at
- 9:13Speaker 2: the end of the game we end up winning. And
- 9:16Speaker 2: I just am confident that this president is not going
- 9:19Speaker 2: to sell America out. He's not going to sell Israel out.
- 9:22Speaker 2: Nobody's ever stood with Israel as solidly as he has,
- 9:26Speaker 2: and it's not because of anything other than he understands
- 9:29Speaker 2: the strategic value of the relationship we have with Israel.
- 9:34Speaker 2: He understands that they're not just a friend or an ally,
- 9:37Speaker 2: they are a partner, and that they have been for
- 9:40Speaker 2: us the canary in the coal mine. Every enemy of
- 9:43Speaker 2: Israel is an enemy of the United States. Whoever wants
- 9:46Speaker 2: to destroy them ultimately wants to destroy the US. Aron's
- 9:50Speaker 2: been saying for forty seven years, death to Israel, death
- 9:53Speaker 2: to America. Israel has only been the appetizer, but the
- 9:57Speaker 2: US has always been the entree for Iran.
- 10:01Speaker 1: I'm not afraid to say this. I love my Cuckabee.
- 10:03Speaker 1: He's a great ambassador. On the boone and meet right now,
- 10:05Speaker 1: live for Michel. So the war could be over between
- 10:09Speaker 1: America and Iran, but is it necessarily over between Israel
- 10:14Speaker 1: and Lebanon. I don't know if it's going to be
- 10:17Speaker 1: you know, hey, we'll stop, they'll stop. I'm not sure
- 10:20Speaker 1: BB's going to agree with that, because as far as
- 10:22Speaker 1: I know, when you're there, it doesn't seem like has
- 10:25Speaker 1: bowl is done just about yet. So what is the
- 10:28Speaker 1: what is the relationship between the two conflicts.
- 10:33Speaker 2: I think it's very important to remember what Secretary of
- 10:35Speaker 2: Rubio has been very very clear about. There is a
- 10:39Speaker 2: distinct separation between Iran and Lebanon. Any deal that is
- 10:44Speaker 2: made with Iran is not an automatic deal with Lebanon.
- 10:48Speaker 2: Those are two separate things. Just because Hesblah is a
- 10:52Speaker 2: puppet proxy of Iran, that's part of the problem. It's
- 10:55Speaker 2: one of the more reasons that we need to make
- 10:57Speaker 2: sure that Iran is defanged, because it is the mothership
- 11:01Speaker 2: not only for Hesbelah, but for Hamas and for the Hoodies.
- 11:05Speaker 2: And Hesbelah, which is the threat in Lebanon, is in
- 11:09Speaker 2: twelve Western Hemisphere countries right now, so this is no
- 11:13Speaker 2: longer a Middle East issue. But I can assure you
- 11:16Speaker 2: that the Israelis look at this and they understand that
- 11:18Speaker 2: if Hesbelah continues to threaten their citizens in the North
- 11:22Speaker 2: is they have done repeatedly over many years, no matter
- 11:25Speaker 2: what they say they're going to do, Israel is not
- 11:27Speaker 2: going to stand down and allow their people to get hammered.
- 11:30Speaker 2: They're just not going to do it good.
- 11:32Speaker 1: So you can see a scenario where we have a
- 11:34Speaker 1: deal between America and Iran over the next couple of days,
- 11:38Speaker 1: but they're still fighting between Israel and Lebanon over that
- 11:42Speaker 1: Terot proxy.
- 11:44Speaker 2: That conflict between Hesbelah and Israel could end as soon
- 11:49Speaker 2: as Hesbelah puts down their weapons. One of the great
- 11:52Speaker 2: things that's happened, and I'm involved in all the talks
- 11:54Speaker 2: between Lebanon and Israel and the US as we've been
- 11:57Speaker 2: meeting in Washington, will meet again a week from Monday.
- 12:01Speaker 2: Part of what is really become clear the Lebanese realize
- 12:05Speaker 2: they're not at war with Israel. Israel's not at war
- 12:07Speaker 2: with Lebanon. The problem is not the two countries. The
- 12:10Speaker 2: problem is Hesbelah. If they no longer are a part
- 12:14Speaker 2: of the equation, then Lebanon in Israel have peace and
- 12:19Speaker 2: they have a cooperative agreement. They have normalization. The only
- 12:23Speaker 2: reason they don't have it now is because of hesbelahy
- 12:27Speaker 2: and neither Lebanon nor Israel is going to look the
- 12:30Speaker 2: other way and let Hesbelah continue to mess up their future.
- 12:34Speaker 1: You're right. Talk to Judge Snein Piro, very proud Lebanese lady,
- 12:38Speaker 1: my friend Joseph Abou, the great men's designer, very proud
- 12:41Speaker 1: Lebanese man. And they hate Asbola, they hate what's going
- 12:44Speaker 1: on between their country and Israel, and they want it
- 12:46Speaker 1: to stop. So well, are not that far away, Mike
- 12:49Speaker 1: Kolkabee from elections now. People in America would lead you
- 12:53Speaker 1: to believe that everybody hates Phoebe, that he's a war criminal,
- 12:56Speaker 1: he's a terrible person. The idiot mayor in my city
- 12:59Speaker 1: wants to arrest him. He's a will moren You got
- 13:02Speaker 1: Corey Booker in New Jersey a couple of days ago
- 13:04Speaker 1: saying that bb Netanyahu is the worst person in the world. Mike,
- 13:08Speaker 1: the worst person in the world, Corey Booker. I love
- 13:10Speaker 1: the guy. I can't wait to see him and you
- 13:12Speaker 1: next Sunday in Israel, and my people are telling me
- 13:16Speaker 1: that the elections are tomorrow he will win again. Well,
- 13:19Speaker 1: the sixth time and seven tries.
- 13:21Speaker 2: What do you think he's like President Trump? Don't ever
- 13:25Speaker 2: count him out, you know. And I don't get involved
- 13:27Speaker 2: in the intricacies of Israeli politics. It's inappropriate for my
- 13:31Speaker 2: physician to take a side. But I've had a relationship
- 13:34Speaker 2: with the Prime Minister for over thirty years. I've known
- 13:36Speaker 2: him when he was in office, I've known him when
- 13:39Speaker 2: he wasn't in office. I will say this is not
- 13:42Speaker 2: a political statement, it's a personal one. He has been
- 13:44Speaker 2: a friend for a long time. We have an excellent relationship,
- 13:48Speaker 2: and I would say of him, as I would about
- 13:51Speaker 2: President Trump, don't ever count him out.
- 13:53Speaker 1: Last one. Well said, by the way, Mike, again, I
- 13:56Speaker 1: look forward to seeing you. I know you're going to
- 13:57Speaker 1: DC next Monday, so I'm hoping that means you'll speak
- 14:00Speaker 1: on Sunday night to open up the JNS.
- 14:02Speaker 2: Well, oh you are, I'll see your Sunday night.
- 14:04Speaker 1: Oh that's great, because I got I told you this.
- 14:06Speaker 1: I wasn't patronizing you. And as great as BBS and
- 14:09Speaker 1: Levine and me and all these people, if you don't speak,
- 14:11Speaker 1: we don't win. So we need you there that's great.
- 14:14Speaker 1: Last one. You were there right after the war started
- 14:17Speaker 1: in twenty twenty three, so was I. Here we are
- 14:20Speaker 1: two and a half, almost three years later. What does
- 14:24Speaker 1: Israel feel like today?
- 14:29Speaker 2: It feels like a nation that even though they've been
- 14:31Speaker 2: hammered and they're exhausted from the war and all of
- 14:34Speaker 2: the horrific things that has been done to them physically,
- 14:37Speaker 2: but also what's been done to them emotionally from European
- 14:39Speaker 2: countries and from Canada and other places around the world
- 14:43Speaker 2: who have put all of the pressure on Israel without
- 14:46Speaker 2: understanding why they fought as they did to save hostages,
- 14:51Speaker 2: including Americans. I'll tell you, I've never seen a nation
- 14:55Speaker 2: full of people who have the will not just to survive,
- 14:59Speaker 2: but to throw. Their stock market is up one hundred
- 15:02Speaker 2: percent since October the seventh. They had GDPD GDP growth
- 15:07Speaker 2: over the last year and a half. That's during five wars,
- 15:11Speaker 2: they've actually had economic growth. They have the highest per
- 15:14Speaker 2: capita income in the region. And it's pretty remarkable when
- 15:18Speaker 2: you just look at the facts on the table and
- 15:21Speaker 2: you say, how is that possible? Because, as Golden famously
- 15:25Speaker 2: said in nineteen seventy three, when asked, what's the secret weapon.
- 15:28Speaker 2: You win wars you're not supposed to win. You beat
- 15:30Speaker 2: enemies ten times your size. How do you do it?
- 15:33Speaker 2: She said, because we have nowhere else to go, and
- 15:35Speaker 2: they understand that.
- 15:37Speaker 1: I love Tid too, Mike. We are so lucky to
- 15:39Speaker 1: have you. You're a very, very very special guy. I
- 15:42Speaker 1: can't wait to see you in Jerusalem next Sunday night.
- 15:45Speaker 1: Thank you for taking your time out of know how
- 15:47Speaker 1: busy you are and doing this today. I love you.
- 15:49Speaker 1: I'll see you next week in Israel, buddy, Thank you
- 15:51Speaker 1: so much.
- 15:52Speaker 2: Thank you, Sied, take care.
- 15:53Speaker 1: God bless you. Mike Huckabee right there are amazing ambassador
- 15:57Speaker 1: America in Israel. And he's just a wonderful guy. He
- 16:00Speaker 1: really is. He's you know, he's got the I'll tell
- 16:03Speaker 1: you this. Our country was built on Judaeo Christian values.
- 16:07Speaker 1: That's what our country was built on. I have no
- 16:10Speaker 1: disdain from the Muslim people. I don't like radical Islam
- 16:12Speaker 1: like Mom Donnie, I have no disdain. But we were
- 16:15Speaker 1: built onto Dayo Christian values. I don't know who represents
- 16:19Speaker 1: dot more I mean this than Mike Ulkabee, a really
- 16:23Speaker 1: special guy.
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