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Yea, let's get to the latest on the Middle East. This morning, the Justice Department charging six senior Hamas leaders with terrorism and conspiracy to kill Americans, days after six hostages were killed in Gaza. The charges including counseling to the groups October seventh sold on Israel, as well as a string of other attacks going back more than a decade.
The Attorney General Merrick Garland, citing the death of a twenty three year old it's re any American in his statement, joining us now to discuss the state of this war and the future. Is Ron Dermer, Israel's Minister of Strategic Affairs, Minister, welcome back to the program Sir. I think we're all very very focused on where we are in truce talks, and we'd like to start the conversation there if we can.
This came out from the Times of Israel just reporting just moments ago that the Prime Minister Netanya, who sent the moss At chief to Dohart to inform the Katari PM that Israel is still prepared to fully withdraw from the corridor between Egypt and guard in a deal with second phase. Could you confirm this morning, Forest Minister, whether that reporting is accurate or not.
No, I think just to explain to your viewers what we're talking about, because there's been so much misreporting and half reporting. Understand that Israel currently occupies this corridor which is between Egypt and Gaza, and that corridor, when it was left open and when Israeli forces were not there, was used as a supply route for all of the arms coming into Gaza. That's how they got armed. Their other borders actually are with Israel, and so the arms
did not come from Israel. They came through that border, and Israel took over the Philadelphia Corrider in the last two or three months and also the rough crossing, and that has blocked all the arms and weapons from going into Hamas the deal that is proposed on the table phase one of that deal. Israel has made clear, and the Prime Minister made clear in a televised press conference a couple of days ago, and I'm sure he'll speak to the foreign press as soon as well, that Israel's
not going to withdraw from that line. We won't withdraw off that quarter because if we do that, then you're going to see those weapons come back phase one of this steal. What it calls for, Jonathan is to have negotiations over the conditions over a permanent cease fire. And once you've concluded those negotiations while you're in a cspire for phase one in order to get to phase two and a permanent cease fire, that's when you can discuss
long term security arrangements on the Philadelphia quarters. So I think that report is a little bit misleading, thinking that in a few weeks Israel's going to leave. But it is true that Israel's committed to actually negotiating this steal. We've been committed from the beginning. When the President put forward a proposal based on a May twenty seven document, he put forward a proposal on a speech at the
end of May. Israel said yes, Kamas said no. Then the US put forward a final bridging proposal, which they called it a final bridging proposal. In the middle of August, we said yes, Kamas said no. Kamas has not been interested in moving ahead to close the deal. They were interested, frankly a Jonathan for the last several weeks an escalation
in the region. They wanted Hisbola to attack Israel. They wanted Iran to attack Israel, and I think now they're hoping that somehow Israel's government will make compromise that it wasn't prepared to make it before. And I can assure you, Jonathan, in the wake of the horrific execution of six hostages, including an American Hirsch Goolbert Poland, Israel is not going to make concessions in the wake of that. We are
committed to a deal. We set people to sit with negotiators to try to get that deal done, and I hope we can do it. We're working with the US administration to try to push that deal forward the Minister.
As you know, we're very focused on acuracy here at Bloomberg. So you said that rapport with slightly misleading. Can we just reconfirm the aspect of it that was misleading and you could you confirm whether in a second phase Natangna, who has ultimately sent the Mossad chief to Dohat to inform the Katari PM the inn second phase, you are willing to fully to withdraw from that car of door.
We don't. I cannot talk about the arrangements in a second phase because we haven't even negotiated about it. Who is going to be there. How long is it going to take until I'll make it very simple for you, Jonathan. Until we have an actual practical solution on the ground for the Philadelphia Corridor, Israel forces cannot leave, and for the last twenty years we haven't had that. We had Egyptian presidents and they announced that their policy was to
stop the smuggling that would go into Gaza. We had that in Mubarik, we have that in CC today. What happened on the ground was a different matter. When Morcy was the president, you remember from the Muslim Brotherhood, was the president of Egypt. A highway of weapons came into Gaza. So the question is not necessarily Egyptian policy at the
top levels. It's what's happening on the ground. What are you going to do on the ground to prevent that border from being a poor supply route for weapons to Comus.
Because we have minister is an obvious question. If I may jump pitser and just interjack because I'd love some charity for on this minnester, if I just want to squeeze this said that you can complete your thoughts, sir, just quickly. If you can trust Egypt to mediate the talks. Why can't you trust them to secure the border. Isn't that a contradiction that we need to try and reconcile.
No, I don't think so. By the way, Qatar is also a mediator talks, and Qatar has been harboring in financing Kamas for a long time and frankly financing the Muslim Brotherhood all over the world, and also promoting a lot of Famas propaganda, which is anti Semitic, anti American through their state controlled television station Al Jazeera. So I don't think those two are necessarily go hand in hand.
The fact is, for the last twenty years since Israel left in the Disengagement, a move that was applauded by the whole world, we left that quarter called the Philadelphia Quarter, we left the border between Egypt and Gaza. We have not had a solution on the ground. I'm not questioning the intentions of the Egyptians. I'm questioning the results and
all of Israel saw it. October seventh could not have happened without that border being open, and so Israel now has closed that and until we have an actual practical solution on the ground that is working. After twenty years of failure. Israel can't leave that line. Minister.
I need to follow up on one other aspect of this, and that's the division that might be emerging in the Israeli government. There was another report and by all means, if this didn't have and you can sell me it didn't happen. But your Defense Minister tell the Security Cabinet the following quote, the fact that we prioritize this corridor the cost of lives of the hostages is a moral disgrace. So how do you respond to that, that voice coming from the rhym government.
Yeah, I'm not going to get into private conversations a security cabin and I will just tell you that the Security cabin of which I am a member, there are ten of us in that cabinet. Eight of us voted to support the Prime Minister's position, one of us voted to obstain, and one voted to oppose. And he made a very clear position that Israel was not going to leave that quarter. And that is a position, by the way, Jonathan, that is in my view, supported by the overwhelming majority
of the Israeli people. I believe it is wrong to say it's either staying in the corridor or saving the hostages. It's not true. There are many other aspects to this deal that haven't been resolved. The United States is working diligently to try to resolve it with the other mediators
and with us. Hopefully we can get there. But it is clear that in Phase one, Israel will stay on that line until we have a prack to quote solution on the ground that we can convince the people of Israel will know that what happened on October seventh will not happen again, that Tahamas will not be rearmed. They will not have an opportunity to do again and again October seventh, which is what they're saying. That's what they're saying today, Jonathan, that's what they intend to do. We've
cut off the supply lines of weapons. We're not going to open that supply line without having a solution on the ground that works.
Minister, can we go back to this Phase one agreement? A few weeks ago, Secretary Blinken was an Israel and he said there was a very constructive meeting he had with Net and Yahoo and confirm that Israel supports that bridging proposal. Then just this week President Biden said net Yahoo was not doing enough. How do you manage what's coming out of the United States? What exactly does the US want to see from Israel? And why is Israel not complying?
Well, I think that just the facts are emory. As I said. There was a proposal put forward in May, Is said yes, Hamas wasn't interested in talks. They added so many changes, around two dozen changes to that proposal. Then there was another bridging proposal in August, which was the one that Secretary State Blincoln was referring to. I was in his meeting with the Prime Minister and it was a very constructive meeting, and Hamas said no to that.
And the reason why Kamas said no at that time to any offer on the table is they wanted Hesbela and Iran to attack us and to create a regional war. That's what they wanted to do on October seventh, and they wanted to do it in the last several weeks. My hope would be hopefully that the potential of a regional escalation is in our rearview mirror, and we can get down and see if we can finish these talks.
What the last thing that is, what was going to do is in the wake of the execution of six hostages, is to make concessions that it would not have made before. That is not going to happen. In fact, all the Israeli security cabinet was united that Hamas is going to pay a heavy price for that decision, because if we don't do that, not only is it going to be dangerous forget to a hostage deal, They're going to start killing hostages, thinking that if you kill hostages, you get consessions.
We're trying to get as much as we can on the same page of the Americans. I think we've been there for the last couple months. Hopefully we'll continue, and I think when the US and Israel show no daylight between that and when all the pressure is directed where it should be on FAMAS, I think the chances of getting to a deal go way way up, and I hope we can get there in the next couple of weeks.
Is your understanding that right now what the US is putting on the table and these discussions, in these conversations is quote, take it or leave it.
I don't know. The bridging proposal that was put forward on August sixteenth was a final bridging proposal. So I don't know if this will be a final, final bridging proposal. Then we'll get a final, final, final bridging proposal. It might be that they're talking about specifics and details, because this is a kind of framework agreement and there's still a lot of things to be negotiated. Again, the problem
in the negotiation is not just the Philadelphia Quartered. There are several things, maybe a half dozen things that have to be closed in order to get to a deal. Right have not seen and I want to repeat this again, at no point has Tamas agreed to any deal that's on the table. They have rejected everything. We had one movement of Thamas, which was in early July, where they understood that there's not going to be an end of
the war as an entry ticket into a deal. There will be a temporary cease fire of six weeks, and then during that temporary cease fire, we're going to have to negotiate what would be the conditions of a permanent cease fire. The Philadelphia Porter and how you block weapons from going into Gaza is an important part of that. We're willing to negotiate all of that, and we're willing to get into that first stage of the deal, Tamas made that change. I don't know if they still actually
agree to that. But on the other issues, there are still pretty significant gaps that have to be closed, and the US is trying to do that. I will tell you that the Justice Department's decision yesterday was a very good decision to put pressure on Flamas. Hopefully the other people internationally and regionally will put as much pressure on Flamas as possible because Israel's government wants to get to a deal. Believe me, Israel's government wants to get to
a deal. What we're not willing to do is go to a deal that's going to endanger the security of ten million Israels. But we were willing to do a deal, and we hope we can get there as soon as possible.
The minister, you're saying you want to get to a deal, but just this morning your National Security Minister Ben vere came out on Twitter and said, quote, I'm acting to halt negotiations with Hamas. So is that not accurate.
That's not the position of the government of Israel or the Prime Minister. As I've told you, we have different views of different government ministers were and the Prime Minister encourages people to say exactly what they think in all these meetings. But then you come to a vote and the Prime Minister's position, which is, we're willing to get to a deal. We want to get to a deal. We have red lines that we have to keep, but we want to get to that deal to bring those
hostages back up. Until this point, we remember on October seventh, there were two hundred and fifty hostages that were taken. We've succeeded in bringing one hundred and fifty hostages back. One hundred and ten of them or so have been alive. And I tell you that the murder, the execution of these six hostages was gut wrenching for all the people of Israel, no matter where they are in the political spectrum.
And you probably may have had them on the show Rachel and John Goldger poland what they have done in raising awareness about the plight of the hostages in their dignified struggle and heroic struggle really for their release. It was a major, major blow and a lot of Israelis are angry, and I can understand that. I think that the anger has to be directed against Hamas in order for us to get to a deal. And yes, there
will be people who will vote against the deal. I believe some of my colleagues in the government will vote against the deal, but the overwhelming majority backs of the country and also of the government, backs the Prime Minister's position and wants to get to a deal.
I'm going to say you've been very generous with your time. Before we let you go, just a quick question. Will the Prime minist to be attended in the UN General Assembly later this month in New York.
I believe he will, But you know, with what happens in our region in the Middle East, you'd never know. I think he intends to go there, and hopefully we can make that happen and he'll have a chin. It's just as he addressed the American people in the Congress
a couple of months ago. Have a chance to address the world about how we move forward in this region and how we can move from this catastrophe that happened on October seventh, to move towards a different future for Israelis, for Palestinians, and for everyone in the region.
Place like the Prime Minister and no, we would love the opportunity to sit down with him later on this month. Sir Minister, thank you very much for your time Runtown with Daddy is around. Minister A Strategic Affairs