As the Iraqi crisis was reaching its height, once again voices in a number of Palestinian cities were calling on the Iraqi leader to bomb Tel Aviv. In the following interview, the Prime Minister expressed his conviction that Israel will not be targeted as it was in 1991, since it did not see itself as part of the conflict. But Iraq and Iran, if armed with ballistic missiles, were a major threat to Israel, the Near East and in fact the entire world. He reminded his interviewer that Hamas was inspired by Iran. Text:
Mr. Snow: Now, for a Middle East reaction, we welcome Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who joins us from his office in Jerusalem.
Good morning, Mr. Prime Minister.
Prime Minister Netanyahu: Good morning.
Mr. Snow: Do you think that if hostilities break out, Saddam would very quickly target Israel?
Prime Minister Netanyahu: I hope not. We don't see ourselves as part of the conflict, and there's no reason why we should be. I think that our hope remains that this thing will be resolved without the necessity for the use of force, but we certainly support the position of President Clinton and the United States that Saddam should live up to his promise to allow full inspection of Iraqi sites to the UN inspectors.
Mr. Snow: Israel has bombed Iraq before, of course - the nuclear reactor in the 1980s. Do you really think that a bombing will prevent future bad behavior by Saddam Hussein?
Prime Minister Netanyahu: I'm not going to second-guess the American position. I think I think the U.S. is leading this effort wisely, as best as it can.
It is true, of course, that the use of force always has its uses. It has its limitations, too. But I think that not making a clear stance and not backing the demand to have Saddam open Iraqi sites for inspection would be, of course, a big mistake, for the simple reason that, like most of the international community, we believe that ballistic missiles and non-conventional weapons in the hands of this regime pose a danger to a very large radius indeed.
Mr. Snow: It's been much remarked here in the United States that some of Saddam's Arab allies have not been outspoken against him. Behind the scenes, is it your understanding that they are concerned?
Prime Minister Netanyahu: That's certainly my impression from a number of directions, but I think there is a natural division between what is said publicly and what is said privately. This regime, and - I can't say its sister regime, because they've been to war for about eight years with one another - but in many ways Iraq and Iran pose a great danger to the world, and most specifically to the countries of the Middle East. And many of those countries are Arab regimes.
Of course, Israel is a non-Arab country, and we're directly targeted by Iraq - Iran rather, that says their aim is to destroy Israel. And Saddam Hussein hasn't been too friendly either. But as far as this particular conflict is concerned, we hope to be out of it. We recognize the need to bring stability and peace to this part of the world.
Mr. Snow: You raise the issue of Iran. What is, in your opinion, the larger threat to regional peace and stability: Iran or Iraq?
Prime Minister Netanyahu: If both of them develop ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads, they'll both be a threat, not to the region, but to the world. Therefore, there is an understandable effort now being undertaken by the international community, especially by the United States and Britain, but also, I think an understandable concern that has been voiced in the United States and by Israel and others about the fact that Iran is developing, essentially undisturbed, unfettered, its arsenal of ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons.
If you're concerned with - if the world is rightly concerned with - Saddam today, if it doesn't take action to prevent the flow of nuclear and ballistic technology to Iran, it will be concerned with Iran tomorrow, at least an equal concern as with Iraq.
Mr. Snow: Would you like to see a United Nations monitoring effort in Iran, similar to the one we have in Iraq?
Prime Minister Netanyahu: I don't think that's very likely, but I think there are ways to stop the provision of technology. I was very pleased to hear that Russian President Yeltsin has undertaken a specific directive to stop the flow of technology from Russia - from Russian scientists to Iran that is - ballistic and non-conventional weapons technology. This is a good direction. I hope this is backed up by forceful action, because the danger is to all of us and to Russia as well.
Mr. Snow: Has this crisis brought you closer together to President Clinton?
Prime Minister Netanyahu: Anytime we have such a development, it's a reminder for any objective person of what kind of neighborhood we live in. Israel is the only Western democracy in a very large radius indeed. Our area has a variety of governments and regimes, but all of us are threatened by the kind of governments that we see in the Persian Gulf: Iraq, Iran. We have some other unsavory neighbors as well.
People can understand better why we insist that the Palestinian Authority fight the Hamas terrorists that are directly inspired by Iran. The deal is peace, and peace means that when we give the Palestinian Authority land, we expect them to fight the Iranian-inspired terrorists in that land. That is essentially our policy vis-à-vis the Palestinian Authority. I've told Arafat: if you don't fight these terrorists, they'll come back to haunt you, not only us. So our interest is to bring - to check - the forces of aggression, the forces of terrorism in every part of the Middle East, in the Persian Gulf and closer to home.
Mr. Snow: If hostilities do break out, Hamas has promised terror in Israel. Would you try to do pre-emptive strikes?
Prime Minister Netanyahu: No, I don't think that's the case. We expect the Palestinian Authority, first of all, to jail these terrorists. Unfortunately, in the last month or so, they've released about 60 Hamas terrorists, and that's going the wrong way.
We also expect them to take a forceful stand against the cries for Saddam to bomb Tel Aviv and destroy Israel, which have come from the Palestinian street. Initially, they actually participated in organizing these demonstrations, these pro-Saddam demonstrations. I think they realize this does enormous damage to them in the U.S. and Israel in public opinion. So they've put a check on it.
But what we'd like to see is a real movement toward peace, which means fighting terror and educating Palestinian public opinion, Palestinian youngsters, that you don't support Saddam, you support peace. And the sooner that happens, the better for peace.