Latest / Sid & Friends In The Morning / Ophir Falk | Foreign Policy Adviser to Israeli P.M. Netanyahu Speaks on the Latest Coming from the Middle East
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: People of Isle are so strong, so united are young people.
- 0:07Speaker 1: You know, it's one of the you know, there's only
- 0:10Speaker 1: one other country that actually shields soldiers who fight, and
- 0:12Speaker 1: it's called the United States. But look at your other allies,
- 0:16Speaker 1: sold allies terrible. Look at them. I mean, when we
- 0:19Speaker 1: fight Iran, we're actually fighting for them. We're fighting this
- 0:22Speaker 1: regime that intimidates everyone that wants to paralyze the international waterways,
- 0:28Speaker 1: international commerce, international energy markets.
- 0:31Speaker 2: So BB was here last week an epic visit with
- 0:33Speaker 2: President Trump. A lot was discussed. And the man that's
- 0:36Speaker 2: always in the room with BB, man that's become a
- 0:39Speaker 2: very very good friend of mine. I'm proud to say
- 0:41Speaker 2: it happens to be the Prime Minister's senior policy Advisor's
- 0:46Speaker 2: name is doctor Ophi or Falk, and he joins us
- 0:48Speaker 2: right now live from Israel, which just after two o'clock
- 0:51Speaker 2: in the afternoon, for the second time, doctor Falk in afternoon,
- 0:55Speaker 2: My friend, how are you?
- 0:57Speaker 3: I say, thanks for having me.
- 0:58Speaker 2: No, it's great to have you, not to have you.
- 1:00Speaker 2: And last week was it was quite a week. You know,
- 1:04Speaker 2: you guys were here in America. Lots to discuss. I
- 1:07Speaker 2: want to start with this Lou, if you're ready. When
- 1:09Speaker 2: BB was on this show a couple days go, look,
- 1:11Speaker 2: get ready to play this. When Bib was on this show, Lou,
- 1:14Speaker 2: I need you. I guess he's not listening. I need
- 1:17Speaker 2: you to sit down. Heren't play something for me. When
- 1:19Speaker 2: he was on a couple of weeks ago, I asked
- 1:21Speaker 2: BB Natagna who specifically about his relationship with Trump, and
- 1:25Speaker 2: he was with Trump last week, And I want to
- 1:27Speaker 2: play this response, Doctor Falk, and then get right back
- 1:30Speaker 2: to you. This is me asking BB about his relationship
- 1:32Speaker 2: with President Trump. What is the real relationship right now,
- 1:35Speaker 2: mister Prime Minister between you and President Trump?
- 1:39Speaker 1: Well, it's never been better.
- 1:40Speaker 2: I mean, one of the things that characterizes friendship is
- 1:43Speaker 2: that we took openly with each other. You know, friends
- 1:45Speaker 2: don't agree on everything, and sometimes they disagree, and we
- 1:49Speaker 2: talk about it openly, you know, in full candor. All right,
- 1:55Speaker 2: we talk about it openly, in full candor. Now, there
- 1:59Speaker 2: was last week, doctor Falk, something about Pickax Mountain, which
- 2:03Speaker 2: seemed to aggravate Trump. But for the most part, every
- 2:05Speaker 2: picture I saw PB was smiling, Trump was smiling and
- 2:10Speaker 2: things were great. Is that what I can take away
- 2:12Speaker 2: from last week's visit.
- 2:14Speaker 3: Right, absolutely, the President and the Prime Minister both said
- 2:18Speaker 3: the relationship has never been better. And after the great
- 2:21Speaker 3: meeting that we had at the White House, the White
- 2:23Speaker 3: House said it was an excellent and productive meeting. And
- 2:27Speaker 3: there's no data between us, certainly not on I ran.
- 2:30Speaker 2: All right, So where are we now with Iran? The
- 2:33Speaker 2: President once again has decided not to bring out this
- 2:38Speaker 2: full out vicious attack, doctor falk And I think a
- 2:41Speaker 2: lot of people in Israel want to see that. Look
- 2:43Speaker 2: at the end of the day, you know, they understand
- 2:46Speaker 2: about the nuclear stump and the dust and the straight
- 2:48Speaker 2: but they are nervous in Israel that leaving Iran and
- 2:52Speaker 2: the IRGC where they are, that you can face another
- 2:55Speaker 2: issue in five years or ten years. They don't want
- 2:57Speaker 2: to see that. So most as realities that I speak to,
- 3:00Speaker 2: they want to see Trump, not the IRGC on its
- 3:03Speaker 2: s excuse the language. So, now that you've decided not
- 3:06Speaker 2: to really hurt them again, what is the thought in
- 3:09Speaker 2: your office and the people in Israel.
- 3:12Speaker 3: Well, obviously the President seems to think that he can
- 3:16Speaker 3: get a deal with Iran that would ensure the fact
- 3:18Speaker 3: that they will not have any nuclear materials. They won't
- 3:21Speaker 3: have missiles and no proxies. And if he can do that, great, fantastic.
- 3:25Speaker 3: And if he can't, they we'll do it by other means.
- 3:28Speaker 3: But with a deal or no deal, Iran cannot have
- 3:32Speaker 3: nuclear weapons, and the President and the Prime Minister have
- 3:34Speaker 3: made that crystal clear.
- 3:37Speaker 2: So are you guys happy right now with where we are,
- 3:42Speaker 2: both the United States and Israel in these negotiations. Are
- 3:45Speaker 2: you okay with what President Trump decided to do this weekend?
- 3:50Speaker 3: Well, again, it's the President's prerogative, and he thinks he
- 3:53Speaker 3: can get the material out by means of negotiations, and
- 3:57Speaker 3: if he can do that, great and not. The President
- 4:01Speaker 3: and the Prime Minister fully aligned, no daylight between them
- 4:05Speaker 3: on the fact that we have to make sure that
- 4:08Speaker 3: Iran cannot have nuclear weapons and they can't have these
- 4:11Speaker 3: ballistic missiles that are hitting their neighbors and they can't
- 4:13Speaker 3: be the bullies of the neighborhood anymore. And on the
- 4:16Speaker 3: bright side, Israel and America have never been stronger, and
- 4:19Speaker 3: Iran has never been weaker.
- 4:22Speaker 2: That is true, they have never been weaker. And really,
- 4:24Speaker 2: the collaborate effort of Israel and America have been tremendous
- 4:28Speaker 2: in this, No one can argue that. Talk to me,
- 4:30Speaker 2: doctor Opio fulk about Lebanon's The Secretary of State Marchel
- 4:33Speaker 2: Rubio put together a tremendous deal a couple of weeks ago. Now,
- 4:36Speaker 2: since the deal was in place, we have seen some
- 4:39Speaker 2: back and forth between Haspola and Israel. And of course,
- 4:41Speaker 2: you guys are going to defend yourselves. It's ridiculous to
- 4:44Speaker 2: think you shouldn't. But it does look like for the
- 4:46Speaker 2: most part that it's peaceful at this point. Where is
- 4:49Speaker 2: the Israel Lebanon relationship right?
- 4:54Speaker 3: So we did reach an historic agreement between a peace
- 4:58Speaker 3: framework between Lebanon and Israel for the broker by Secretary
- 5:02Speaker 3: of Rubio in Washington a few weeks ago, and it's
- 5:05Speaker 3: the first time in decades that Lebanon recognizes the sovereignty
- 5:10Speaker 3: of Israel. Israel obviously recognizes the sovereignty of Lebanon, and
- 5:15Speaker 3: we agree that his Belah needs to be dismantled. Now,
- 5:18Speaker 3: how did that agreement come to be? We were able
- 5:23Speaker 3: to dismantle or to degrade his Bela significantly. We took
- 5:27Speaker 3: out about eight thousand terrorists. We took out most of
- 5:31Speaker 3: their one hundred and fifty thousand missiles that were aimed
- 5:34Speaker 3: at our cities, at our civilians. We degraded them significantly,
- 5:38Speaker 3: and Lebanon is now willing to step up to the
- 5:41Speaker 3: plate and say we got to dismantle his That's where
- 5:44Speaker 3: we are today. Now, we're holding the security zone next
- 5:48Speaker 3: to our border so that we can implement the number
- 5:52Speaker 3: one lesson that we've had in October seventh. Our number
- 5:55Speaker 3: one lesson is that we cannot have genocidal terrorist organizations
- 5:58Speaker 3: anywhere near our border, not in the north with his Bellah,
- 6:02Speaker 3: and not in the south with Hamas. And we're implementing
- 6:05Speaker 3: that lesson as we speak.
- 6:06Speaker 2: Said and I did hear doctor falk Or read, I
- 6:08Speaker 2: should say that Hamas as of last week, was willing
- 6:13Speaker 2: to disarm. They were willing to give up their weapons,
- 6:17Speaker 2: something that a lot of people thought they would never
- 6:19Speaker 2: do in an upward I guess to exist. Let's use
- 6:23Speaker 2: that word exist. What does that look like today, Hamas
- 6:26Speaker 2: disarming in Gaza.
- 6:29Speaker 3: Well, the proof will be in the pudding when we
- 6:30Speaker 3: see that happening, that Hamas disarms, that would be a
- 6:35Speaker 3: great day. And they actually said they would do that
- 6:38Speaker 3: in the twenty point plan. Eight months have gone by
- 6:40Speaker 3: and they have not disarmed. The only ones that have
- 6:42Speaker 3: disarmed Hamas is the IDF. Hamas, like Iran, always lies
- 6:48Speaker 3: and always plays for time. But if we can dismantle them,
- 6:51Speaker 3: if they do disarm, that would be a great thing.
- 6:54Speaker 2: What does your gut tell you, what does your heart
- 6:55Speaker 2: tell you?
- 6:56Speaker 3: Honestly, honestly, I never believe a word that Hamas says,
- 7:02Speaker 3: and I never believe the word that Aram says. And
- 7:05Speaker 3: the only ones that actually have done the deal or
- 7:07Speaker 3: have been able to dismantle the Hamas has been the
- 7:11Speaker 3: idea of now. If the International Security Force is able
- 7:15Speaker 3: to dismantle Hamas, great, fantastic, there will be nobody happier
- 7:21Speaker 3: than us. But if they do not do it the
- 7:23Speaker 3: easy way, as the President and the Prime Minister said,
- 7:25Speaker 3: if it doesn't happen the easy way, it will be
- 7:27Speaker 3: done the hard way. Oh Israel, just one Israel will
- 7:31Speaker 3: achieve all of its objectives, namely Hamas is military and
- 7:36Speaker 3: governing capabilities will be destroyed. All our hostages, thank god,
- 7:40Speaker 3: have been released, and Gaza will never pose a threat
- 7:44Speaker 3: to Israel again.
- 7:45Speaker 2: That was my next point was that at this point
- 7:48Speaker 2: it does seem like Hamas the future of Hamas doesn't
- 7:52Speaker 2: look very right. There really is no future, and eventually
- 7:56Speaker 2: is you'll do what they have to do in Gaza.
- 7:58Speaker 2: So you know whether or not Hamas surrenders and disarms
- 8:02Speaker 2: in this week or three weeks or five weeks, it's
- 8:05Speaker 2: pretty safe to say that the future of Hamas is
- 8:10Speaker 2: not very bright at the very least right right.
- 8:14Speaker 3: Absolutely, the Board of Peace and the President, President Trump
- 8:17Speaker 3: and clearly Prime Minister Nathaniel fully agree that Hamasa's military
- 8:22Speaker 3: and governing capabilities need to be dismantled. And that's what
- 8:26Speaker 3: we intend to achieve.
- 8:29Speaker 2: So as we get set and I'm going to come
- 8:32Speaker 2: back for this doctor Falk October seventh, it'll be three
- 8:35Speaker 2: years or what. I can't believe it's going to be
- 8:37Speaker 2: three years, but it's going to be this October seventh.
- 8:40Speaker 2: And also you got elections coming up not long after that.
- 8:43Speaker 2: We'll get to that in a bit. But as we
- 8:45Speaker 2: get set to commemorate three years, twenty five years, nine
- 8:49Speaker 2: to eleven in America, three years for you guys, October
- 8:53Speaker 2: seventh seems to be a big difference. I was in
- 8:56Speaker 2: Israel just last month, as you know, a JNS dot
- 9:00Speaker 2: Oregon seems to be a big difference, So people seem
- 9:03Speaker 2: to be, you know, pretty optimistic about the future. It
- 9:06Speaker 2: was such a scary time for a couple of years.
- 9:08Speaker 2: So still the greatest, most resilient people in the world,
- 9:10Speaker 2: but it was a scary time. You got to admit
- 9:12Speaker 2: that they seem to have kind of moved past all that.
- 9:15Speaker 2: So what does this three year remembrance mean in your
- 9:19Speaker 2: estimation to the people of Israel.
- 9:23Speaker 3: Well, what it means is that never again is now
- 9:26Speaker 3: and we can never let that happen again. October seventh,
- 9:30Speaker 3: when the Hamasa genocidal terrorist organization invaded our country, murdered
- 9:37Speaker 3: two hundred innocent people, raped, beheaded, burnt babies, and took
- 9:42Speaker 3: two hundred and fifty one innocent people hostage into the
- 9:45Speaker 3: dungeons of Gaza. Thankfully, we fought back. We made the
- 9:50Speaker 3: greatest comeback in military history. We fought back, and we
- 9:53Speaker 3: brought them to their knees in Gaza, and we brought
- 9:56Speaker 3: his blot to its knees. It was hit harder than
- 9:58Speaker 3: ever before. And we've hit the we took down the
- 10:01Speaker 3: assets army, and we've hit Iran like they've never been
- 10:04Speaker 3: hit before. And the Iranian axis, that evil acxis is
- 10:07Speaker 3: weaker than ever before, and we're stronger than ever before.
- 10:11Speaker 3: America and Israel stronger than ever before. And the Iranian axis,
- 10:15Speaker 3: which is made up of his Bellah and Hamas and
- 10:18Speaker 3: the Hooties, they're weaker than ever before.
- 10:20Speaker 2: You know, Doctor Falk to take this conversation local. When
- 10:23Speaker 2: bieb was on with me, it'll be three weeks ago
- 10:26Speaker 2: today actually, and I brought up Mom Donnie. I said,
- 10:28Speaker 2: you know, Mam Donnie wants to rescue and Babe. You know,
- 10:31Speaker 2: he laughed at the notion. You know, Nathaniel, who's one
- 10:34Speaker 2: of the toughest guys in the history of mankind, and
- 10:37Speaker 2: some scrawny mayor with no power, zero power to do
- 10:40Speaker 2: what he wants to do, is not going to intimidate Bibe.
- 10:43Speaker 2: He made that very very clear. He said said, no,
- 10:45Speaker 2: I'm not nervous. I'm coming. I'll be there in September.
- 10:48Speaker 2: He has now since said that one hundred times to
- 10:51Speaker 2: other people and said it again in DC last week.
- 10:54Speaker 2: But he made it very very clear that he's not
- 10:56Speaker 2: intimidated by mayor. Mam Donnie. He'll be here in September
- 11:00Speaker 2: and there's nothing this mayor can do. I know you're
- 11:03Speaker 2: going to repeat that right now. But you know, just
- 11:06Speaker 2: all this nonsense that the mayor has been spewing about
- 11:09Speaker 2: Bibe the last couple of weeks, How awful is that?
- 11:12Speaker 3: Honestly, well, truly it is awful. I'm not sure if
- 11:16Speaker 3: he's the mayor of clown. But the thing is that
- 11:18Speaker 3: those who hate America usually hate Israel, and those who
- 11:23Speaker 3: hate Israel usually hate America. And I think that's the
- 11:26Speaker 3: case with this mayor that you're speaking about.
- 11:30Speaker 2: He's such a bad guy. He really is, He really is.
- 11:33Speaker 2: Dershowitz told me that when you guys arrived, mind you
- 11:35Speaker 2: that Dersha and I going to be Kennedy Airport to
- 11:38Speaker 2: greet you guys. But you guys above and beyond that,
- 11:40Speaker 2: coming here in September and getting ready, of course to
- 11:43Speaker 2: commember Eate three years October seventh, and Israel. You've also
- 11:47Speaker 2: got the big elections coming up. Depending on the day
- 11:50Speaker 2: Bbe's winning, BB's in second. I remember you on the
- 11:52Speaker 2: show the first time you said I wouldn't bet against
- 11:55Speaker 2: Boebe another that was the smartest thing anyone has said.
- 11:58Speaker 2: I agree with you, doctor Falk, I would not bet
- 12:01Speaker 2: against the Prime minister either. But what does it really
- 12:04Speaker 2: look like today because it's coming sooner than later.
- 12:11Speaker 3: Right, Well, first of all, the Prime Minister is going
- 12:12Speaker 3: to be in New York, and then it's September to
- 12:14Speaker 3: the U and he's going to be giving a very
- 12:16Speaker 3: strong message about Iran. And then the elections, as you noted,
- 12:20Speaker 3: are on the twenty seventh of October. And as you said,
- 12:23Speaker 3: as he reiterated, I would never ever bet against the
- 12:26Speaker 3: Prime Minister Willie wouldn't.
- 12:28Speaker 2: He is just an amazing guy. So what is the
- 12:30Speaker 2: date he's going to be here in September for the
- 12:33Speaker 2: UE stuff?
- 12:34Speaker 3: I think it could be the third week of September.
- 12:36Speaker 2: Okay, and you're coming to obviously, right, God willing. He
- 12:42Speaker 2: doesn't go anywhere without you. I mean, somebody actually said
- 12:45Speaker 2: to me, how much whether this is true? Doctor for
- 12:47Speaker 2: But you and I close enough friends that just about
- 12:50Speaker 2: every phone call, even between BB and Trump, you're basically
- 12:54Speaker 2: in the room, like you, you really know what's.
- 12:57Speaker 3: Going on, right, I do my best?
- 13:01Speaker 2: All Right, Well, you're a terrific guy, and you're great
- 13:03Speaker 2: at your job. You really are, You really are. Israel
- 13:06Speaker 2: is very lucky to have you. I'm very lucky to
- 13:08Speaker 2: have you as a friend. You've been great to me,
- 13:10Speaker 2: so thank you all again for another great, great appearance
- 13:13Speaker 2: this morning, doctor Falk, and we'll do it again very
- 13:16Speaker 2: very soon. Todar Rabot, thank you so much. Thank you
- 13:19Speaker 2: to do here, you too, buddy, God bless you. There
- 13:22Speaker 2: is doctor Ophia Falk happens to be the senior policy
- 13:26Speaker 2: advisor for Israel's Prime Minister BB Natanyau.
- 13:30Speaker 4: Thanks for listening to Sit and Friends in the Morning.
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