The focus of the interview was on the Habib mission, which so far had not produced concrete results. The Syrian missile batteries were still in place and Israel continued to allow the diplomatic efforts to take their course. Much of this policy was in response to messages from President Reagan and Secretary of State Haig. Mr. Begin also spoke of the Israeli desire to achieve a more formal alliance with the United States, stating that the initiative should come from Washington. Excerpts:
Q: ... Even now the Soviet Union and the Syrians are engaged in joint military maneuvers off the coast of Syria. I wonder if you, first of all, can bring us up to date on what you know about those maneuvers, and of your government's reaction to them.
A: Yes, what I can say is that we know everything about those maneuvers, but I can not disclose it on television. And secondly, this is a matter for the United States more than for us. We are not frightened at all by those maneuvers, but if in the eastern part of the Mediterranean, the Soviet Union fleet carries out maneuvers, I suppose it's something to think about for the commander-in-chief of the Sixth Fleet, and for the government which gives him orders.
Q: But these maneuvers are being carried on just up the coast here, Mr. Prime Minister. Do you see them as a threat to Israel's security?
A: Not at all, they are no threat to Israel at all. These are maneuvers, there were maneuvers of the United States Sixth Fleet and the Egyptian Fleet, and nobody saw in it any threat to anybody. But I suppose there is some food to think for the United States, as I said, because if the Russian fleet carries out maneuvers in the Mediterranean, that, of course, in the future, may mean something for the Free World. So rather let the Free World be careful - and you, America, are the leader of the Free World ... we will defend ourselves in any case if attacked by anybody.
Q: Mr. Prime Minister, before the election we were all very deeply involved in what was called the Syrian missile crisis. What has happened to the Syrian missile crisis? Are they still there, are they going to be removed, what do you see?
A: Yes, regrettably enough, they are still there. We would have destroyed them in two hours. But meantime I got a message from President Reagan, from Secretary of State Haig, asking to give a chance to the diplomatic efforts. And of course, we decided to accept that advice, it was good advice. We don't want war, we don't want warlike operations, we prefer the diplomatic course to find solutions, but a solution must be found. Then Mr. Habib, a brilliant man, came to us and he shuttled between Riyadh and Beirut and Damascus and Jerusalem, etc., until now. With all due respect to my dear friend Philip, with all his brilliance, he didn't solve that problem. He, as your ambassador told me on the Fourth of July ... Mr. Habib may come this week. If he comes this week, or next week, I will talk to him and I will just ask him, what are the results of your shuttle?
Q: Well, is it not true, Mr. Begin, that the longer those missiles remain there, the less chance there is of having them removed?
A: No, I wouldn't say so. But the American policy is to restore the status quo ante. So Mr. Habib interpreted that term, used by the highest authority of the United States. The status quo ante must be restored. And this interpretation, Mr. Habib's interpretation, was the missiles from Lebanon must be removed. Completely. Well, I 'will ask him: Are they being removed? And when? Because we cannot wait for an indefinite period. I told him time and again.
Q: If you do indeed form the new government, will you stand on your former statement that if they are not removed by diplomacy, that Israel will remove them by military means?
A: That is a matter of national consensus. The opposition, led by Mr. Peres, has the same opinion. So on this issue, we shall all be united. Either by diplomatic efforts those missiles which must not be in Lebanon will be removed back to Syria, or, yes, we shall remove them with our own means.
... Meantime, we have now a new situation with relations with the United States. The President and the Secretary of State both of them stated that we are in a permanent alliance, that we are friends and allies. That is also for the first time that representatives of the United States call Israel a friend and ally. Alliance means that the relations are based on mutuality. We are not on the receiving line: we are not always in a position of suppliance, we are allies, we help each other - which is absolutely true. I cannot tell everything in public. We help each other and that is also a very serious and positive development.
Q: Is there a possibility then, sir, of a more formal alliance, something that will be spelled out on paper - that will be made public?
A: Yes, that depends on the decision of the United States government. Because they are the great power. If they want a formal alliance with Israel, they should take the initiative and suggest it to us. I will recommend immediately to the government to accept it, but if we should suggest such a formal alliance and get a refusal - I prefer not to get refusals.
Q: ... There is a story being published by "The Los Angeles Times" today that successive U.S. governments, including this one, going back for some seven years, have had secret negotiations, or at least talks, with the P.L.O. Were you aware of that before, sir? What is your reaction?
A: No, not at all. That is a disclosure of a complete secret. I hear it for the first time, and will you please get in touch on my behalf with the "Los Angeles Times" and ask them where from they got that information. But that is a complete new piece of news to me. Never heard about it. Seven years ago it was ... No, I never heard about it. About Jimmy Carter's period I know almost everything, and we were never informed that the Government of the United States got in touch with the P.L.O. - never - with the so-called P.L.O. As far as the Reagan Administration is concerned, I don't even imagine that could have happened, but whether it happened during the period when Mr. Ford was President, I cannot say anything. I will have to ask my predecessor, Member of Parliament, Mr. Rabin, because he then was Prime Minister, and perhaps he will know something about it.
Q: Excuse me, sir, for following up on this point, but were you not aware of the fact that contacts were made with the P.L.O. during the time that the American hostages were being held in Iran?
A: About that I heard. We didn't object because we wanted the American hostages out of Iran as soon as possible. We did not object whatsoever to those contacts. They didn't help anyhow, in any case, they didn't help at all, but we didn't make any objections.
Q: And during times of upheaval in Beirut, when Americans were in touch with the P.L.O. to help get American diplomats out of Lebanon - were you aware of that?
A: I myself was not aware, and am not aware of that. But perhaps again it was in the period of Mr. Rabin's premiership. I will ask him.
Q: Mr. Begin, again, trying to look to the future, do you expect the supply of F-16's and other American-made aircraft to be resumed, and did the embargo on the four F-16's hurt Israel's strategic position in any way?
A: Well, I suppose, first of all, that embargo hurt the United States, because the United States signed a contract with us. And in accordance with the contract, we should have had those four planes in our country already and their shipment was suspended. It shouldn't have taken place at all. Of course, if you expect a number of planes (and) they don't arrive, it's unpleasant to you. As far as the other planes are concerned, we expect six of them on the seventeenth of this month, and I am sure they will arrive. As far as those four are concerned, I also hope they will arrive. How soon, I cannot say.
Q: Now, American equipment has been the backbone of your operations against the P.L.O., in your preemptive attacks on the P.L.O. in their camps in Lebanon...
A: They are not preemptive attacks. This is national legitimate self-defence.
Q: In these military actions, by whatever name, will you restrict the use of American equipment in any way as a result of what's happened?
A: We don't have to, because in accordance with our contract, we promised to use American equipment for self-defense. This is exactly what we do: When we go out for those operations against the murderous Nazi P.L.O. which plans every day to kill Jewish men, women and children. We have to make sure that they won't be killed and this we can achieve, as we already proved it ... during the last year...