Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Talks Monday, June 04, 2001 This partial transcript of Fox News Sunday, June 3, 2001 was provided by the Federal Document Clearing House. Fox News TONY SNOW, HOST: And now joining us to talk about the tense and rapidly changing situation in Israel is former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Mr. Netanyahu, you have heard Yasser Arafat call for a cease-fire, at least as far as regards Palestinian Authority personnel. Do you think that's a serious offer on his part? BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, FRM. ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Not really. I've heard him say that so many times before. But he has been launching a terrorist onslaught on Israel, using his own personal bodyguard firing motors at us, using his Fatah force under his command and using the Islamic terrorist groups whom he controls. What he is doing now can be tested very simply: Does he jail the terrorists? Does he clamp down on Hamas and Islamic Jihad? Does he collect their illegal weapons? Words are meaningless. And will he do so? Not for a day or two in order to escape the wrath of Israel, but permanently as he promised to do in the first place under the Oslo peace accords? He has violated that, and it would take a lot to convince me that he's really changed anything. SNOW: Today the Israeli cabinet has said that it will give Chairman Arafat a certain grace period to try to prove his good will. How long should he get before, in your opinion, he needs to start jailing militants and collecting weapons? NETANYAHU: Well, he's already had these forces firing at Israelis since he's issued the statement, so I wouldn't sit there with bated breath, you know. I think that we have to understand what we're facing. We're facing a terrorist regime committed to the destruction of Israel through the use of terror. And in fact that's what Arafat wants. He wants Israel to simply disappear. Now, he has launched a slew of terrorist attacks, culminating in this attack on a Tel Aviv discotheque where these 19 -- I think it's actually 20 by now -- 20 teenagers were murdered in cold blood. I think that you should remember that when a German disco was bombed in Berlin and a few Americans were killed, you launched, with Britain, strikes against Gadhafi, air strikes. You put sanctions on Libya. Gadhafi said that he's not responsible, he never did this, and then he said they would work against any rogue groups and all that. It didn't convince you, and you took action. Now, these people weren't -- there weren't 20 teenagers killed in a Washington discotheque or in a London discotheque, but you understood correctly that the only way to stop terrorism is to fight it. The only way to stop terrorism is to make the terrorist leaders understand that they will not have impunity. And I think this is what we have to communicate to Arafat as well. SNOW: Do you think therefore that the Israeli cabinet is making an error by not retaliating immediately? NETANYAHU: Oh, they didn't say when they would or would not take action, and I believe that they will. I think that this is something that everyone in Israel expects. I think everyone in the world expects that. You don't go around sending killers who bomb people -- not only our discotheques, our shopping malls, our theaters, our streets. People are shot in the streets. This is something no civilized country would tolerate. And I think that Arafat's responsibility is total, not only operationally. But because day in, day out, hour by hour, he instigates on the Palestinian media, which he fully controls, this rash of poison, of teaching young children to become suicide bombers exactly like the one in Tel Aviv, to blow Israelis out into the sky and, in fact, to destroy the state of Israel. So you have here two things that Arafat should be tested on: One, is he taking the concrete steps, operational steps, to stop the terrorism as he promised to do and failed to do? And second, is he changing the message to his own people from one of war and destruction to one of peace and reconciliation? So far he's failed to do that. And I wouldn't hold the test for a few hours because he wants to escape the natural right of Israel to defend itself. I would look over weeks and months to see if anything substantive changes. And I wouldn't wait, in terms of defending Israel. We have every right, the natural right of every state, to defend ourselves. And that message will be driven home by action, I have no doubt about that. SNOW: What is the proper U.S. role? NETANYAHU: Just exactly what the United States has been doing. I think President Bush was wise to not only demand a condemnation, which is a minimal thing on the part of Arafat, but also to demand an effective cease-fire. That's the minimal thing that should be demanded. And I think there's basically an appreciation in Washington about the predicament that Israel faces, the fact that it is on the front line against terrorism, that it can and probably will take action in a short time. I think the U.S. has been playing this right. SNOW: That being the case, should the United States be pressuring some of the Palestinian Authority's allies in the Arab world to get Yasser Arafat to make good on the promises? NETANYAHU: Absolutely, and I think it can -- I don't know how much effect that will carry, because, regardless of what some Arab leaders think secretly in their hearts, they're committed to this public support of Arafat. But I think more importantly is what the Europeans say, what the EU says. I think Europe has been the target of Palestinian terrorism perhaps more than any other part in the world, outside Israel and the Middle East. And I think that putting the right focus on the global battle against terrorism in European capitals is something that the U.S. could be very effective with. SNOW: Is this war? NETANYAHU: Arafat has declared war. Arafat has declared a terrorist war of attrition against Israel, no holds barred. And I know now that he's fearing the Israeli response, naturally. But we have to understand that unless there's a radical change on the part of the Palestinian leadership, then we will have to take the action. And I think it is only when Arafat understands that his regime is about to crumble that he will take action. I speak from personal experience. He tried the same thing with me, but I made it very clear to him that I would take all the action necessary to defend ourselves and, if that meant the toppling of his regime, it would fall. He stopped, and, in fact, only under that pressure did he stop, and we had three years of relative quiet. This policy of firmness was unfortunately changed by the government that replaced me before the present government, and of course we got this rash of terror back. I think it's time to restore the policy of strength and firmness in the face of terror. Arafat has to understand that if he doesn't stop terror, we will. And we will go to all lengths necessary to defend ourselves. SNOW: All right. Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, thank you for joining us this morning. NETANYAHU: Thank you. |
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