E-mail a friendEhud Danoch
airdate July 31, 2006
In October '04, Ehud Danoch became Consul General of Israel. Based in L.A., he's the country's senior representative in the southwestern U.S. He previously served as chief of staff to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Silvan Shalom and as Senior Advisor to the Minister of Finance. Born in Israel, he's a member of the Israeli Bar Association and has specialized in corporate and finance law and business litigation. Danoch also serves as a reservist in Israel's Defense Forces at the rank of Captain.
Ehud Danoch
Tavis: Ehud Danoch is the consul general of Israel, based here in Los Angeles. He's also the former chief of staff to Israel's deputy prime minister. He continues to serve as a reservist in Israel's defense forces, at the rank of captain. Mr. Danoch, nice to have you on the program, sir.
Ehud Danoch: Thank you very much, sir.
Tavis: Let me start by asking I guess the question that many people are looking for an answer to tonight, and that is, what happened between the time that Israel said we will halt air strike for 48 hours, and the resuming of those air strikes, which obviously took place inside of that 48-hour window?
Danoch: Well, Israel said, and the most important thing to understand here, that the responsibility of the government is the security of the citizens of Israel. Israel is not going to stand on the side when the Hizbullah is continuing to launch missiles on the northern part of Israel. And this is one of the major issues. To on the one hand, make sure that we're acting against the launchers, and on the other hand, to continue and to provide humanitarian help to the Lebanese citizens.
I don't know if you know, Tavis, but about a week and a half ago, we created an emergency humanitarian headquarters in Israel to facilitate and coordinate all the movement of products or medical assistance, food, to the Lebanese citizens. That the international community is helping, and we are helping to coordinate and facilitate the issues from Israel together with representatives of the Red Cross, UNESCO, and the other representatives of the international community.
Tavis: Let me get back to my question, 'cause I'm not sure, respectfully, you've answered it yet, though. If Israel says for 48 hours, we're going to not engage in air strikes, that agreement, or the statement to not do that, was not contingent upon Hizbullah stopping anything. When Israel says, we're gonna stop for 48 hours, that's a decision made by the state of Israel. Why make the statement that you're going to stop for 48 hours, and not stop for 48 hours?
Danoch: No, so, I'll repeat what I said. Israel said that we are going to help, because of they wanted, in the first place, for people to leave the area. And we said that when it comes to air strikes, we're gonna do everything in order for them to leave, and to help with these issues. But at the same time, we did not say that if the Hizbullah is going to continue to launch missiles, and we know where the launchers are, we're gonna stand on the side, and not do anything.
Tavis: Let me ask what we are to make of the statements by the prime minister today. He does not see a cease fire anywhere in the short term. That's not good news.
Danoch: Well, we could have a cease fire an hour or two hours after the operation started, 19 days ago. But this is, of course, under the condition of releasing the Israeli soldiers that were kidnapped by the Hizbullah, and the implementations of resolution 1559. And let me maybe make something clear, because it is important to go back and remember where everything started, 19 days ago.
If I go back a month ago, to the southern part of Israel, where the Hamas infiltrated Israel, kidnapped an Israeli soldier, killed two Israeli soldiers, and a week after, from the north, the Hizbullah infiltrated Israel, killed eight Israeli soldiers, and kidnapped two. We are responding to a terrorist attack that took place by the Hizbullah inside Israel. They are the ones to have over 12,000 missiles that are intended for Israel.
Over a million Israelis are in shelters, as we speak. They are in shelters for over 24 hours. Now, what Israel is doing is everything in our power to bring back the security for the border with Lebanon. Until now, the Hizbullah took over southern Lebanon, they are there. They have the posts, their headquarters; they are committing terrorist attacks from the southern part of Lebanon to Israel.
And what we wanna do is to make sure that the implementation of resolution 1559 will take place. After all, the international community was the one to approve the resolution 1559. And I'll tell you more than that. If the international community would have disarmed Hizbullah way before, after the resolution was made, if we had seen the implementation in the past, we wouldn't have to start in the first place.
Tavis: These border skirmishes happen all the time in the Middle East. I'm not telling you something you don't know. You're a member of the army there. These border skirmishes happen all the time. Somebody takes a hostage, somebody else takes a hostage. Border skirmishes are nothing new in the Middle East, as you well know. How did a border skirmish turn into an all-out war in the Middle East?
This thing escalated pretty quickly, and that's why you get these conversations about proportionality, and whether or not Israel has gone too far. Over the lives, every life is precious, but over the lives of a couple of soldiers here, a couple of soldiers there, these border skirmishes have turned into all hell breaking loose.
Danoch: I'll tell you, I would respond with an answer, but I will come to it maybe later. The issue that we faced 19 days ago was the Hizbullah coming into Israel, inside Israeli territories, not disputed land, killed soldiers, and kidnapped two. Do you know one country in the world that would tolerate such an attack? I don't see any country in the world tolerating 2,300 missiles, only from the northern part of, only being landed in the northern part of Israel.
Twenty-three hundred missiles in the past 19 days. From the south, yes, everybody's concentrating on what's happening in the north. But from the south, the Hamas and other terrorist organizations are continuing to launch Qassam rockets to the southern cities, Sderot and Ashkelon. Do you know any country in the world that would tolerate such a thing? I don't think so.
Unfortunately today, the world is facing terrorism. The past five years, over 40 countries were attacked by terrorist organizations. Over 5,600 terrorist attacks took place. Over 138 terrorist organizations exist in the world. We are facing, unfortunately, the Hizbullah and the Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, and other terrorist organizations in the Middle East. Now, for the benefit and for the security of the people in Israel, and for the security of the Lebanese people as well, the Hizbullah must be disarmed. And the resolution 1559 must take place immediately.
Tavis: When innocent babies are killed, does Israel have concerns that the sentiment is gonna turn against them in a way that makes this even uglier?
Danoch: Innocent kids..
Tavis: When innocent babies are killed inside of Lebanon by Israeli rockets, is there a legitimate concern, is there a concern, rather, on the part of Israel, that they're gonna turn the sentiment inside of Lebanon, and in the Middle East, against them, and make the situation even worse?
Danoch: Well, unfortunately, innocent children, babies, in Lebanon and in Israel, as well - in Israel, as well - were killed. But it is important to understand that we do not have anything against the Lebanese people, against the Lebanese citizens. We are against the terrorists. We are against the Hizbullah that unfortunately are using the civilians and the citizens in Lebanon as human shield.
This is what the Hizbullah is doing. Before Israel is going in to strike any target of the Hizbullah, we sent leaflets. Hundred of thousands of leaflets for the citizens to leave the place. We repeatedly announce on the radio as well that we're going to come in. So in some of the cases, you have the citizens that are leaving, and terrorists, as well. Because they know that we're gonna come in.
But we do not target citizens. We do not have anything against the citizens. On the contrary, when it comes to the humanitarian corridor that we created, what I mentioned before, when it comes to humanitarian issues that international communities providing to the Lebanese people, we are the ones to facilitate and coordinate that the Lebanese people will not suffer, and for them to get anything that they need.
Tavis: I guess the question is, and I don't know what is gained by you and I discussing this here in L.A., but let's put it out there anyway. I guess the question is, when is enough, enough? You can't bomb people into behaving the way you want them to behave. So when is enough, enough? When will you sit down and talk? When?
Danoch: We don't, as I said before, we target the terrorists, we target the Hizbullah, for the benefit of our people, for the benefit of the Lebanese people, as well, and for the benefit of the region. We are focusing terrorism. We have today over three million Israelis in the line of fire. They have to be under shield. The past 19 days, children in Israel are 24 hours in shelters. People are in trauma. The trauma division in the hospitals in Israel are full with adults, with seniors, with children.
Tavis: Doesn't that make the case, then, for why there needs to be an immediate cease fire, yes? You're making the case.
Danoch: As I said, what I'm saying is that we never said no for a cease fire, but under the condition of implementation of resolution 1559, because we don't wanna be in the same situation in a month from today. We don't wanna be in a situation where in two months, three months, or a year from today, the Hizbullah will be in the southern area of Lebanon, continuing to launch missiles against the Israelis.
This is a situation where we don't want to be in. This is why we're asking for the implementation, and it's not that Israel alone is asking for it. There is an agreement, there's a consensus among the international community, that the Hizbullah needs to be disarmed. Now, the past year, he wasn't disarmed. On the contrary, he continued to receive help and support from Syria and Iran.
Directives, budgets, and everything else. And what we want to see is the implementation of that resolution, and we hope to see the implementation. The implementation, our sons back. We have a responsibility for our sons in Israel. We have a responsibility for the soldiers that were kidnapped, for their families, as well. We wanna see them safely home, in order to reach, in the future, a cease fire.
Tavis: Let me ask you right quick whether or not you think Secretary Rice's visit to the region was at all helpful, conductive.
Danoch: Absolutely. Secretary Rice is always invited to the region and to Israel. She was twice in Israel, and many talks took place between Secretary Rice, the prime minister, minister of defense, minister of foreign affairs, to see, to understand the issues. And Secretary Rice understands that Israel wants, of course, to go towards a cease fire, under the conditions that I mentioned before.
Tavis: Ehud Danoch, the consul general for Israel, based here in Los Angeles. Nice to have you on the program.
Danoch: Thank you very much.
Tavis: Glad to have you. Up next on this program, actor Mark Ruffalo. Stay with us.
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