Commentator Exclusive: Interview With Former Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu

Commentator: As a youth, teenager and college student, you spent a great deal of time in the United States. How did your American education influence your political views and the decisions you made as Prime Minister?

BN: I would like to start by stating that my stay in the U.S produced in me a very strong belief in the flee market, and I definitely want to introduce this in Israel. As for your question, my home is Israel, but I was certainly open to the many things I saw while in America. I have always been impressed by the spectacular range of individual rights that abound in American culture, and I tried to insinuate these rights into Israeli culture and it's economy.

Commentator: In the late 80's, when you captured the leadership of the Likud, you were constantly criticized by Former Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir because of your age. Looking back, do you feel your young age afforded you a disadvantage in your political career? What is your current attitude toward the young occupying powerful government positions?

BN: To me, it is not how many years you have, but what you do with your time that is truly important. Working in the government and acquiring a high leadership position requires an enormous storehouse of energy, and if you have that energy, your age is simply irrelevant.

Commentator: What was your relationship like with current Prime Minister Ehud Barak when he was your commanding officer in the mission to overpower the Sabena plane that had been hijacked?

BN: Excellent

Commentator: What are your feelings toward the Barak administration, specifically with regard to the new "Wye Two" deal being reached?

BN: No comment.

Commentator: Throughout your political career, it seemed as though you tried to steer clear of any personal meeting with Arafat, yet such a meeting was obviously unavoidable after you became Prime Minister. What was it like to know that you had to negotiate with a known terrorist, with someone who may have been indirectly involved with the Battle of Entebbe?

BN: It was certainly not a comfortable meeting, and that's an understatement. We weren't the best of friends. But I inherited Oslo. The security of Israel was the responsibility of my government. And it was my duty to meet with Arafat. So I did. I represented the State of Israel in all of my dealings with Arafat, and I am somewhat proud of the outcome.

Commentator: Do you consider Arafat to be a terrorist? Is he currently, either directly or indirectly, pulling the strings of Hamas or any other terrorist organization?

BN: I consider anyone who engages in terrorist attacks, at any time, to be a terrorist. Mr. Arafat previously organized attacks, and his past can never be erased. He is now charged with the duty of abandoning such attacks. He doesn't now initiate them, but he also doesn't fight against these attacks to the extent that he should.

Commentator: Who within the US government do you currently view as the best advocate of Israel?

BN: No comment.

Commentator: What do you think of the use of Jonathan Pollard in negotiations? Do you feel he should be freed?

BN: I think Pollard should be released. Period. He has served more than enough time for what he did. I was the first Prime Minister to admit that Israel did in fact send him as a spy - we had no business doing that. What Pollard did was wrong, but he paid the price for it. He needs to be released on a humanitarian basis as well. He's not well and his wife isn't well either.

Commentator: So why isn't he being released?

BN: There is much opposition on the part of the American establishment. But I don't think there's any real basis for singling him out. What he did was certainly not as bad as some of the Russian spies that have been caught. There is also much incorrect information circulating about what Pollard did.

Commentator: What are your opinions toward the "new education" being introduced into the Israeli school system? Specifically the claim that the War of Independence was not a miracle, rather the Israeli side had the numerical advantage over the Arabs on the battlefield, as well as in

planning, military techniques and operation?

BN: At that time, the lifeline of Israel was almost cut, and in retrospect the rebirth of Israel was nothing short of a modern miracle credited not only to the physical but to the spiritual. We saw the resurgence of Israel, a nation that had just been under the worst torments in recorded history, a nation that refused to die. We emerged from the gas chambers of Auschwitz to conquer a world - we can't then deny the existence of the spiritual.

Commentator: What was your relationship like with the Lubavitch Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, and what was his main advice to you?

BN: I had a very important and close relationship with the Rebbe. There was something he told me when I paid him a visit in 770 while I was the Ambassador to the United Nations. He told me to always remember just who I am representing, and to do so in an appropriate manner. This is a

message I took with me from that day on, and I will remember it always.

Commentator: What was going through your head when Michael Dresnin and Dr. Ellie Ripps informed you of their findings in the "Bible Code?" [That your name was encoded with "His soul will surely be cut off," "Death," and "All his men to war."] How did you respond to this?

BN: I actually don't remember being told of this.

Commentator: Michael Dresnin wrote about informing you of this in his book entitled "The Bible Code." He then detailed your response, and his cooperation with you to "save Israel from several nuclear disasters."

BN: I know nothing about this.

Commentator: How do you feel about the exemption of ultra-orthodox yeshiva students from the military?

BN: Military service should be something of a voluntary situation, not by force. This is something I worked on, and is currently being worked on.

Commentator: How do you feel Yeshiva University is viewed by the Israeli public? Do decisions made at YU have any effect in Israel?

BN: There is a general concern in Israel that we are losing Jews to assimilation. When we have institutions like Yeshiva University, that cement one's Jewish identity and give him an opportunity to explore that identity, it truly helps in this struggle. YU affords Jews a chance to

not only become familiar with Jewish culture, but to live it.

Commentator: What are your views about the synthesis of a Torah education with a secular one? Are these contradictory elements, or elements which compliment one another?

BN: This idea [of Torah U'Maddah] is an old one that began with the Vilna Goan, and has since produced some of the greatest minds. People who engage in this type of discourse truly receive an excellent education.

Commentator: Fifty years from now, a historian is writing a brief summary of Israeli politics and is including a paragraph on your administration and Prime Ministership. What do you think he or she should write? How would you synopsize your job as Prime Minister of Israel?

BN: What I tried to do was to achieve the conditions for a secure and lasting peace for Israel, and to strengthen the economic situation in the country. I established many policies to achieve these ends. Peace without security is meaningless. There have been dramatic changes in the

economic field during my leadership.

Commentator: What are your future political/professional plans?

BN: I'm now taking a break from politics. I'm doing much in the private sector, and I'm lecturing at universities such as yours.

Commentator: One last question, Mr. Netanyahu. What do you think of an arrogant leader?

BN: I don't think arrogance is a good idea. A leader must be firm and tough, but also flexible with certain things. When it comes to issues of security, the Prime Minister needs to draw clear and definable lines. I had two main issues: Peace and to fix the economy. I personally wouldn't use the word arrogance, use the word firm. Firm, not arrogant.