LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Let's get the Israeli government perspective now on all this. I have Ophir Falk on the line. He's a top foreign policy adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Good morning, and welcome to the program.
OPHIR FALK: Good morning, Leila. Thank you for having me.
FADEL: So Iran says these peace talks are not going to go through unless Israel stops in Lebanon. The United States, the EU, allies in the region want this ceasefire and talks for the end of this war with Iran. But Israel instead has escalated with deadly strikes in central Beirut in the middle of the day earlier this week. Is the prime minister willing to derail the entire ceasefire to keep fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon?
FALK: First of all, I'd like to make a couple of clarifications on the reporting. One, there is no ceasefire in Lebanon. And it wasn't part of the ceasefire deal that was discussed with Iran. Iran always lies, that's one. Two...
FADEL: Although Pakistan, which mediated the deal...
FALK: That's just one...
FADEL: ...Announced it with Lebanon included.
FALK: So Pakistan said that.
FADEL: I'll just put that out there.
FALK: Yeah. I'll just put out that the president of the United States and the vice president of the United States said that it was not part of the deal. That's one. Two, you just noted that 300 people were killed yesterday, or on Wednesday, in Lebanon. I would like to mention that out of those 300 people, at least 200 were Hezbollah terrorists.
And we are fighting Hezbollah. It's a genocidal terrorist organization. And if we've learned one lesson from the October 7 atrocities, is that we will not allow genocidal terrorist organizations near our border, not in the south with Gaza and Hamas and not in the north with Hezbollah.
Now, on the bright side, what are the objectives in the negotiations with Lebanon? And by the way, the Lebanese government reached out a number of times to Israel to conduct these negotiations. Now that Hezbollah has been degraded, and after Lebanon reached out to Israel, we've agreed. And we want to conduct direct negotiations.
What are the objectives? The objective is, one - and it's a mutual objective - to dismantle Hezbollah. That's a Lebanese objective. It's an Israeli objective. And two, to forge an historic peace agreement between the two countries. Is that possible? We'll see, we'll see. We hope it's possible. Hope. Go ahead. Sorry.
FADEL: Yeah. No, that's fine. I will point out that the Lebanese government does dispute those numbers, saying that many of those killed on Wednesday were civilians. Let's get to those talks. The historic Israel-Lebanon talks that are going to happen in Washington, D.C., next week. Are there red lines for Israel?
FALK: Are there red lines? We - our objectives...
FADEL: When you're going in, are there things you want to compromise on but things you're unwilling to compromise on? For example, there are Hezbollah-affiliated politicians that are a part of the elected Parliament.
FALK: There are a number of issues that will be discussed in negotiation. I don't want to talk to those details. I don't want to discuss the details of the negotiations. But in general, our objectives, our two main objectives is our mutual objective with the Lebanese government and Israel's to dismantle Hezbollah, which by the way, we agreed upon in the November 24 ceasefire. And to forge an historic peace agreement between the two countries. Is that possible? I hope so. That - hope is our national anthem. And we hope we can reach peace with Lebanon, peace through strength.
FADEL: Now, President Trump told NBC News he asked Netanyahu to, quote, "low-key it" in Lebanon, as we heard from our reporter earlier, as these talks with Iran possibly happen this weekend. We heard Netanyahu then put out a video saying, don't worry, the fight will continue. So which one is it?
FALK: I'll say, thank you for the question. First, I can't elaborate on the conversations between the president and the prime minister. But what I can say is that the president has briefed the prime minister daily on the negotiations, and that there is no daylight between these two great leaders.
FADEL: So Israel does also want negotiations and an end to this war with Iran?
FALK: We - our objectives in the operation, the Rising Lion operation with the United States - we carried out this operation with the United States. Our objective was three. One is to degrade the nuclear threat, the missile, ballistic missile threat and to create the conditions for the Iranian people to grasp their destiny in their own hands. We have done a huge amount of achievements.
We've degraded the nuclear capabilities. We've taken out key nuclear bomb scientists. We've taken out thousands of missiles, hundreds of launchers. And we've created the conditions for the Lebanese - for the Iranian people to do the right thing, to take freedom in their hand. And God willing, that day will come. Sooner or later, this regime will fall.
FADEL: I'm asking about these specific peace talks, though. Are Israel and the United States on the same page when it comes to these peace talks and a negotiated end to this war?
FALK: There has never been more coordination and cooperation between two leaders, President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu, or between our armed forces, Israeli and American armed forces, that Iran will not have nuclear capabilities, period.
FADEL: Now, the war in Iran is not popular among the majority of Americans. And polling shows the majority of U.S. adults now hold a negative view of Israel and of Prime Minister Netanyahu. I'm looking at a recent Pew poll right now that says 59% of American adults have little or no confidence in Prime Minister Netanyahu to do the right thing regarding world affairs. Are you concerned that the prosecution of these wars in Gaza, in Lebanon, in Iran will cost Israel the long-term support of the United States?
FALK: First of all, I've seen different polls. But to your question, clearly, war is not a good thing. And war can be costly. There's a price to war. And there's a price to action. But there's a much bigger price to inaction when you're fighting a genocidal terrorist regime that wants to annihilate you. And that's what we're facing. And that's what we face together with the United States in an unprecedented operation carried out by the United States and Israel.
And in honesty, there has never been a more successful operation. We've taken out thousands, thousands of their missiles and their launchers. We've taken out their key regime leadership and commanders. And they are on their knees. We are going to achieve all our objectives. Either it's going to be through an agreement or through action, but our objectives will be reached.
FADEL: That was Ophir Falk. He's a top foreign policy adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Thank you for your time.
FALK: Thank you.
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