00:03:45.400Incredibly encouraged, number one, of the victories that Israel has been able to win against Hamas and Hezbollah.
00:03:53.240But he is also, I think, beyond encouraged by the new administration in the White House.
00:04:00.980And a lot of what we talked about was the incredible pressure that was put on Israel, the efforts to undermine Israel that for the last four years we saw under the Biden administration.
00:04:13.520And we talked about those quite a bit.
00:04:16.040We talked about how in the immediate aftermath of October 7th, initially, Joe Biden, the words he said at least were quite supportive.
00:04:25.900And you remember he flew over to Israel.
00:04:27.620And at the time, I vocally praised him for it.
00:04:32.220But then the anti-Semitic wing of the Democratic Party began to assert itself.
00:04:39.800And the Biden administration began pressuring Israel more and more and more.
00:04:45.440And we saw that in terms of arms embargoes.
00:04:48.820One of the things that Prime Minister Netanyahu talked to me tonight is how they were running low on ammunition because over and over again, and he described at each stage as they were taking the war to Hamas, how the Biden White House was saying, no, don't do that.
00:05:08.860If you do that, we're going to cut off aid.
00:05:11.640If you do that, we're going to cut off weapons.
00:05:13.580And he said that's already dramatically changed in terms of the Trump administration providing the ammunitions they need to continue and prevail in the war.
00:05:25.480And that has made an enormous difference.
00:05:28.220And we've seen just in the last two weeks multiple hostages coming home.
00:05:32.640I think that is the direct result of a new commander in chief in Washington who stands with Israel.
00:05:39.440You talk about what's needed, and that's got to be a sigh of relief.
00:05:43.480But also part of this, the interesting conversation that you're having, because you guys have known each other for a long time.
00:05:50.800You would consider him, I think, to be a genuine, sincere friend.
00:06:19.080Yeah, that was certainly a lot of it is me asking, what do you need from the United States right now?
00:06:23.660And he was very gratified that on the ammunition front that need has been filled, and he needs America to stand with him, to stand with him.
00:06:31.500Look, the hostage deal is releasing hostages, but there are multiple waves.
00:06:36.080And I would say Prime Minister Netanyahu is very directly focused on eliminating Hamas and also on preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
00:06:45.720And he is laser-focused on that, quite rightly.
00:06:49.080Iran is weakened and weakened badly right now, and it's weakened because Hamas was one of its major proxies, and it's badly, badly decimated.
00:06:58.520Hezbollah was another major proxy, and that is badly decimated.
00:07:02.940Syria, the government of Bashar Assad, another proxy for Iran, collapsed because Iran is in such weak situation.
00:07:12.980But the result of that is Iran has a real incentive to try to develop nuclear weapons.
00:07:20.460And we talked a lot about stopping Iran from getting nuclear weapons.
00:07:24.520Where are we now in that timeline? Because we haven't talked about that in a while here on this show.
00:07:29.360And I think it's an important point because the last administration really was kind of letting Iran do what Iran wanted to do.
00:07:34.860How concerned is he, and how close do they think they could be to actually getting that?
00:07:40.180He is very concerned. I'm very concerned.
00:07:42.640And you look at Barack Obama, the Iran nuclear deal, I believe, accelerated Iran's progress towards getting nuclear weapons, allowed them to build centrifuges, allowed them to enrich uranium.
00:07:56.560The Trump administration, quite rightly, came in and ended that Obama-Iran nuclear deal.
00:08:03.480And you and I have talked about before, that was a major battle within the Trump administration.
00:08:07.840Both the State Department and Defense Department under Trump argued that we should stay in the Iran nuclear deal.
00:08:15.820Rex Tillerson was the Secretary of State. Jim Mattis was the Secretary of Defense.
00:08:20.220They were both vociferous on staying in the deal.
00:08:23.160And I probably had two dozen conversations and meetings with President Trump urging him to pull out of the deal.
00:08:31.060And what it ended up doing was it turned Iran around because what followed from that was the maximum pressure campaign that put economic sanctions in place, that cut Iran's oil exports and sales in place, and that really had the regime incredibly weakened and teetering.
00:08:52.060And one of the things that I pressed President Trump very hard to do, and that he did in the first term, was invoking the snapback sanctions in the United Nations.
00:09:01.420And that, again, put enormous pressure on Iran.
00:09:07.960And as a result, they didn't even enrich uranium above 5% when Trump was president.
00:09:14.220But in November 2020, the Iranian regime gambled, and unfortunately correctly, that it could start rushing to a nuclear arsenal and that the Biden administration would let them.
00:09:27.180And so in December of 2020, the regime approved a new law calling for major nuclear advances.
00:09:33.120In January, they started enriching uranium to 20% at Fordow, which is the underground bunker built into a mountain that the Obama deal had left open.
00:09:44.320And you know what the response was of Biden?
00:09:46.580In February, right after he was inaugurated, February 2021, the Biden administration rushed to the UN to rescind the snapback sanctions that President Trump had put in place.
00:09:57.160And under Biden, they allowed the international sanctions to expire.
00:10:39.540Sanctions, economic pressure, cutting off their oil, cutting off their finances.
00:10:44.020And if necessary, using military force, not to invade Iran, not to try to turn Iran into Switzerland.
00:10:51.560But if they are on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons, using military force, either Israel or America, to take out their nuclear weapon capability, to protect America, to protect Israel.
00:11:02.440And that is that is something President Trump has been very explicit about.
00:11:07.040And it's something certainly that that Prime Minister Netanyahu and I discussed this evening.
00:11:12.140We've had a lot of sanctions on Iran, but unfortunately, they've not been enforced, certainly in the last administration, the way they were supposed to.
00:11:19.920So when you look at enforcement aspect of this, and we've talked about ghost ships, ghost oil, that they've been able to get out to the black market and still prop themselves up.
00:12:48.320That is what funded terror against Israel and against America.
00:12:52.280And so having a president with willing to stand up is really significant in terms of of Israel knowing that America has her back.
00:13:05.360And by the way, I got to say one of the things that was really striking.
00:13:08.680So so I talked with Bibi about October 7th, about the horrors that unfolded, about how Israel responded.
00:13:16.320And they responded going after Hamas and how how quickly the Biden administration was undermining them.
00:13:23.620But I got to say it, it got even more significant because you recall when Hezbollah began accelerating and escalating in the north of Israel and attacking more and more.
00:13:37.020And you'll recall that Israel made the decision to to use the pagers, to use the pagers to explode and to take out a significant number of Hezbollah terrorists.
00:13:46.040So so Bibi told me the inside story of that.
00:14:02.360We're going to get an Asian company to produce pagers and sell them to Hezbollah and convince them that they're really from Asia when when, in fact, the Israelis have planted tiny explosives within them.
00:14:16.960And then Hezbollah is going to distribute it to each of their terrorists so that Israel could detonate it.
00:14:23.620Now, let me tell you something that that is is stunning and that this has been publicly reported, but it's also when Prime Minister Netanyahu made the decision to detonate those pagers.
00:14:44.460Because so many people in the Biden administration were undermining Israel on a daily basis that they had very real concerns.
00:14:52.360If they let the Biden White House know about it, that Hezbollah would be tipped off and they dispose of the pagers.
00:14:59.080And so it would not take out the terrorists.
00:15:01.160Think how messed up that is when Israel did not have the confidence to trust in letting the United States, letting the White House know how they're taking out terrorists.
00:15:15.720Because they couldn't have confidence that America would not leak that to the Hezbollah terrorists.
00:15:24.980Well, you mentioned the pager and there was something interesting that happened in the joint press conference with Bibi and President Trump.
00:15:30.960And that was that Netanyahu gave Trump a, quote, golden pager.
00:15:34.380It was clearly, I think, a reference to the Lebanon attack.
00:15:50.160It was a fairly small amount of explosive in the pagers.
00:15:53.380And when he said his team was laying out the plan, and this is a plan that initiated years ago, initiated long before October 7th, and he said it was just a few grains of explosive that small enough to be undetectable.
00:16:06.380And he was asking, okay, is this, is it enough explosive to detonate and do real damage to the terrorist who has it?
00:16:14.680And they said, yes, and Bibi told me the way he tested it is he said he literally took one of the pagers and threw it as hard as he could at his wall.
00:16:22.140And he said it exploded and put a pretty sizable dent in the wall.
00:16:25.240And he said, okay, that's, that's, that's a good chunk of explosives.
00:16:28.920By the way, I mean, I love the fact that that's what Bibi would do because it's totally, it's, it's kind of how he is.
00:16:34.940I mean, he's a, all right, I'm all hands on deck.
00:16:44.680Well, I'll tell you something else we discussed.
00:16:46.680So, so as, as they continue to take out Hamas and then to take out Hezbollah, one of the real pivotal moments was taking out Nasrallah.
00:16:55.420Nasrallah was the head of Hezbollah in Lebanon and Bibi walked me through the decision-making.
00:17:01.020Nasrallah was in an underground bunker and, and they were having vigorous debates about whether to take him out and, and, and in particular, what the timeframe would be on, on his being there.
00:17:13.980And, and I got to say it was striking.
00:17:15.180Number one, the timeframe on detonating the pagers, that, that, that they had reason to believe there was an urgency, that they had to detonate it when they did, uh, or, or there was a real risk.
00:18:03.420Um, we, we were worried that they would not only, I would assume, undermine, but share that intelligence with the people that they were actually trying to kill, which would be the terrorists.
00:18:11.220They were very concerned that the Biden administration would essentially warn the head of Hezbollah, uh, to get out of harm's way.
00:18:19.520I mean, that is profoundly disturbing.
00:18:24.980It is shocking, especially after what happened.
00:18:27.760And you mentioned that the, the hostages several times.
00:18:30.580Let's, let's dive into that as well, because there have been.
00:18:33.860Well, before we do that, I want to make a point about Nasrallah.
00:18:36.080One of the things that Bibi really emphasized is he said Nasrallah was critical to, to, to Hezbollah and, and, and to the terrorists because he was a charismatic leader.
00:18:49.180So, so Israel had taken out most of Nasrallah's, uh, chief deputies.
00:18:53.460Um, and, and it wasn't until September 27th, uh, of last year that they took out Nasrallah himself.
00:19:00.980And, and Bibi said, even with most of his chief deputies to take it out, Nasrallah was waging the war and doing so relatively effectively that he was a, a, a effective leader for an incredibly dangerous terrorist organization.
00:19:16.380And so taking him out had, had a profound effect, weakening Hezbollah because his leadership without it, uh, that they were in utter chaos.
00:19:27.380And in fact, he said that, that taking Nasrallah out, uh, was, was the critical piece that resulted in Bashar Assad falling in Syria because Assad relied on Hezbollah terrorists to help remain in power.
00:19:43.320And so taking Nasrallah out, Bibi viewed as really a pivotal moment in, in critically weakening Hezbollah and critically, critically weakening, weakening Hezbollah's patron, Iran.
00:19:59.300So without that piece of the puzzle, you're saying there's a chance that Assad would still be in charge right now in Syria and not be hiding in Russia.
00:20:08.500I, I, I, I think I would say, uh, but more than a chance, a, a direct, but for cause.
00:20:14.400So you, you put all that together and is awful as the attack was on Israel.
00:20:20.760The focus after that attack has been unbelievable and, and doing what they need to do to, to protect their people and make sure this never happens again is, is just truly amazing to see that the leadership of, of, of Netanyahu, the people around him, that their military services, their intelligence services, the list goes on and on.
00:20:43.000That also is got to be so sad to watch that this is now where they are, right?
00:20:48.200Like there's, there's this continuing war.
00:20:50.840You've got the worries that you just mentioned with Iran and there's the other big worry.
00:20:54.020And that is, there are still hostages.
00:21:03.540Well, many of the hostages have been released or have been rescued by, by the IDF at, at, at this point, uh, the, the, the women and children have all been released.
00:21:15.920The only hostages that remain are, are men, uh, and, and, and there are roughly 20 hostages.
00:21:22.700They don't know for sure how many are, are still alive.
00:21:25.400Some, some may not be some, some, they certainly hope and, and, and believe are alive.
00:21:30.000And, and, and Prime Minister Netanyahu is, is very focused on continuing to try to bring them home.
00:21:35.960He told me early on, he said, one of the senior members of his government said right after October 7th, that, that we need to think of, of, of the hostages as essentially, as essentially dead, that we're not going to be able to do anything about it.
00:21:48.920And, and, and Bibi told me he strongly rejected that premise and said, no, we can, we can wage war on Hamas.
00:21:55.160We can take out the military leaders, we can take out the terrorists while, while doing so in a way to try to protect the hostages and bring, bring them home.
00:22:03.240And, and I will say that they've had remarkable success in doing so, but the release of the hostages accelerated only after Donald Trump was, what was reelected.
00:22:15.060So you look forward with that, you look at, at Iran, and, and when is that going to come to a head?
00:22:20.800I mean, are we talking in the next days, weeks, months?
00:22:24.060Because we've been, we've been hearing a lot about Iran over the last four years.
00:22:27.260We heard a lot about it when Trump was in office from 16 to 20.
00:22:30.680But there does seem to be a different level of urgency right now.
00:22:33.700What does the next month or two look like?
00:22:35.640Look, there is a real urgency, there is a real risk that Iran, we know they're close to a nuclear breakout, they could attempt to test a nuclear weapon.
00:22:45.660Because at this point, they're badly weakened, and trying to get a nuclear arsenal, there's a real risk that the Ayatollah views that as the one way to regain their strength.
00:22:58.820And that's incredibly dangerous, and, and I can tell you, Israel is committed to, to preventing that from happening, and, and, and I believe America is as well.
00:23:09.120Canadian women are looking for more, more out of themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world around them.
00:23:15.420And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.
00:23:21.580And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women.
00:23:25.300Entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers.
00:23:28.820All at different stages of their journey.
00:23:31.080So, if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.
00:23:34.280Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio, or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
00:23:40.120What is America's foreign policy now when it comes to Iran?
00:23:43.420Obviously, sanctions, implementing those sanctions, suffocating them financially is a big part of that.
00:23:48.940But if they're still this close, is, is our foreign policy and, and the DOD and, and the president's wishes, are they drastically different than they were even maybe day one?
00:24:00.860Because now they have the intel of just how close we are.
00:24:03.500Is that what BB's point of being here is?
00:24:05.600Well, look, I think the policy now is maximum pressure, and that means cutting off the money.
00:24:11.980You know, at some level, it's not complicated.
00:24:14.400Don't give billions of dollars to psychotic lunatics who want to murder you.
00:24:19.740You would think that would not be a controversial proposition.
00:24:22.760And, and yet, during four years, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris flowed over a hundred billion dollars to Iran.
00:24:31.460That, in a very real sense, funded the death squads on October 7th, and it funded terrorism against America.
00:24:40.200Look, the, the Democrats are right now going nuts over USAID.
00:24:43.420And, and most of the Democrats and, and all their acolytes in the media are pulling their hair out because President Trump and Elon Musk have, have halted, halted the funding at USAID.
00:24:54.180And they're exposing all sorts of abusive payments, things like $2 million for sex changes in Guatemala, which, which I got to say, anyone who listens to that says, why the hell are U.S. taxpayers paying for that kind of nonsense?
00:25:07.440Well, at some level, it's nonsense, but there's also money USAID put in that is not just an infuriating left-wing woke political agenda, but is dangerous.
00:25:20.640So USAID, under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, poured hundreds of millions of dollars into Gaza.
00:25:28.680And, and, and that went, much of it went directly to Hamas.
00:25:32.780Millions of, tens of millions of that were in cash that could never be accounted for.
00:25:38.100And, and they knew that the money they were pouring into Gaza would benefit Hamas.
00:25:43.440In fact, the, the Biden administration formally waived U.S. anti-terrorism law because they concluded that it was, quote, likely that the money they were sending would be used for terrorism.
00:25:54.780And so ordinarily under U.S. law, if it's likely money will be used for terrorism, you're barred from sending it.
00:26:01.200But the president under the law has the ability to waive that law.
00:26:04.680And so rather than not fund the terrorists, they waived it.
00:26:08.260I got to tell you, I, I tweeted about that today.
00:26:11.720Elon Musk reposted it and, and, and just said, wow.
00:26:14.940And, and, and just that tweet has had millions and millions of views, but, but it gives an example.
00:26:20.560What the Biden administration was doing in, in a very real sense was, was funding the enemies of America and funding the enemies of, of Israel.
00:26:34.620Let's talk about the humanitarian side of this and, and, and the real need, needs of the people in Israel.
00:26:41.620What did Bibi say from that standpoint?
00:26:44.140Because there is obviously a great humanitarian need.
00:26:47.020We're talking about all this money with doge that we're finding that we're giving to all these people.
00:26:50.860Many of them that are, it's just waste and fraud and abuse and absurd things like transgender plays in certain countries when, you know, as an American, I don't mind helping our allies in times of need.
00:27:04.960There is so much money though, that's being used in such fraudulent ways that I do think there's a hesitancy now to just say, okay, what do you need?
00:27:12.400Because it seems like everyone was taking from us and abusing it.
00:27:17.140I think Israel is very different and that's why I want to bring this up.
00:35:04.680And the Democrats feel that there are no consequences.
00:35:07.300Chuck Schumer was among the leaders who met with Netanyahu and was trying to give excuses for why he and he and all the other Democrats voted against sanctioning the ICC.
00:35:19.740Today, President Trump issued sanctions as president.
00:35:24.440That's one thing Bibi was very happy about is he now had a president that would stand up to the International Criminal Court for going after him.
00:35:32.140Look, Bibi is not able to travel to much of Europe because they're European nations who have threatened they will arrest Bibi if he steps foot on their soil.
00:35:41.200That is a profound attack on the government of Israel.
00:35:45.540Think about it, that there are many European countries that he simply won't go to.
00:35:49.880Now, let me ask a simple question to anyone listening.
00:35:57.320The ICC did this under Biden's presidency.
00:35:59.440And the answer is, I think the Biden administration wanted the ICC to go after Benjamin Netanyahu.
00:36:07.120And I think we're going to see facts come to light in the weeks and months ahead that show some real complicity of the Biden administration for the lawfare attacking Israel.
00:36:18.520And that really underscores the difference one election can make.
00:36:23.360And thank God we have a president now who will stand up for America and who will stand up and stand alongside Israel.
00:36:33.140This is when I love doing this because we get to hear things that you wouldn't hear anywhere else.
00:36:37.320So don't forget, we do this show Monday, Wednesday, Friday.
00:36:40.520Make sure you hit that subscribe or auto download button wherever you are listening to this podcast so that you don't miss a single episode, especially ones just like this.
00:36:49.800And the center and I also do a week in review on Saturdays for some of the big highlights you may have missed during the week.
00:36:56.760So make sure you check that out on Saturdays.
00:36:58.560And we'll see you back here on Saturday for the week in review.