(Music playing) AMIR: Ambassador, Yoram Ettinger,
I'm honored to have you here in our show today. AMBASSADOR ETTINGER: Thank you. AMIR: Thank you
for being with us. And would you please acquaint our viewers of your
experience and record in the Israeli Foreign Ministry? AMBASSADOR ETTINGER: For about 10 years I was
head of the Middle East research unit in the Israeli Civil Service. And that acquainted me with unpredictability and the instability and in a way,
with the frustrating nature of the Middle East and the difference between the Middle
East state of mind and Western state of mind. I was then posted to Houston, Texas,
and I became the consul general for Israel to the Southwestern States. And that was a very rewarding experience which introduced me to
small-town America and fly-over America, an area with abundance of appreciation of the Judeo-Christian foundations of the U.S. and Israel and
also an area which is largely unknown to Israeli movers and shakers. Then I was posted to the embassy in
Washington with a rank of an ambassador. I was in charge of our relations with the U.S. Congress,
which acquainted me with the House of Representatives and with the Senate but mostly with the power
of the individual constituent. When you walk in the corridors of Congress,
you can hear what I call "the battle cry of the American voter." We should remember in November and no constituents should undermine
his or her potential impact on the Representatives in the House or the Senators. They fear the constituents and they
reflect basically the will of the constituents. AMIR: Ambassador Ettinger, 2020 marks 400 years of the relationship between Israel
or the Judeo, I would say, culture and religion with the American culture. And it seems to me that a
lot has changed ever since. And what do you think happened that caused so
many things to change along the course of the years? AMBASSADOR ETTINGER: Well, there's no doubt that the U.S. population
has gone through a very, I would say massive and dramatic demographic changes, which have caused also ideological changes and cultural changes
throughout the U.S. mostly in the big cities, less so in small-town America. But there has definitely been departure from the
early Pilgrims and the Founding Fathers' values which formed the number 1 power in the world, the USA,
and the current minimization of regard for those values. If we go back 400 years; in fact,
in November 2020 it will be exactly 400 years -- AMIR: When do you start counting from
because America is not 400 years old? AMBASSADOR ETTINGER: Yeah, but in November it was the arrival of the Mayflower and
the 102 passengers on the Mayflower to the shores of New Plymouth in the USA of -- AMIR: 1620. AMBASSADOR ETTINGER: -- 1620, and the 102 passengers,
they in fact, consider themselves to be the modern-day chosen people. They regard that Britain
as the modern-day Egypt. They considered the sail through the Atlantic, seven,
eight weeks sail, as these the modern-day parting of the sea. And the USA of today was referred to as the "New Israel,"
"New Canaan," the modern-day "Promised Land." Therefore,
we're talking here in Jerusalem. We only have one
Jerusalem in Israel. In the U.S. you
have 18 Jerusalems. You have, in fact, 32 Salems. Salem or " Shalem" in Hebrew
was the original name of Jerusalem. You have 18 Zions,
among them, Zion National Park. You have more than 80 Shilohs in the U.S.,
over 20 or 30 Bethels in the U.S. and many other such towns that also gave rise to the prominence of the legacy of Moses
and the formation of the worldview of the early Pilgrims, then the Founding Fathers, than the formation of the American Constitution,
the American political system, the American system of justice, and therefore in the U.S. Supreme Court,
you have about seven statues and engravements of Moses and the 10 Commandments. In the House of Representatives in front or across from the
Speaker of the House, there is the bust of the head of Moses. Now he's not the only one. There are 23 such busts around the chamber,
those are the major law-givers in human history. But Moses is at the center. Moses stares at the
Speaker of the House. And Moses' bust is the
only one who looks straight. All the other 22 are in profile. When I first noticed that, I asked the curator of the Capitol Building,
"Why is this bust different than all other busts?" And their response
was very interesting. "Aren't you a Jew from Israel? Don't you know that Moses is the foundation of
human law and all the rest are the derivatives?" Therefore,
the foundation stares at the Speaker and the derivatives are in profile. They stare at the foundation. And by the way, we have, or Americans have over 200 statues
or monuments of the Ten Commandments throughout the USA. One of them on the ground of the Texas State Capital in Austin,
Texas, another one on the ground of the Arkansas State Capital in Little Rock,
another one in Oklahoma City, and many other such sites. AMIR: So obviously the immigration of those newcomers into the new-found area,
territory literally brought the Judeo-Christian belief into a new level. It's a combination of American and Jewish culture, although they're not trying to
be, the Americans are not trying to be Jewish, they are valuing the Jewish heritage. Your time as ambassador to Washington, what stood out to you
the most regarding the Israeli-American relationship at the time? AMBASSADOR ETTINGER: Well, first of all to make clear,
I was not the Ambassador to the U.S. I was an Ambassador the Embassy
in charge of Congressional Relations. When I was in Washington,
it was a pretty rough sail for the Israeli boat in the States. That was the time of President Bush
senior and the Secretary of State Jim Baker. Both were not among Israel's best
friends in the history of U.S.-Israel relations. However,
the most revealing reality at that time was the power of Congress. While the relations between the American and Israeli administrations were very,
very rocky, very unfriendly, still cooperation between the two
countries expanded to an all-time high degree. And that was primarily because of Congressional initiatives,
House and Senate initiatives. And that's when I personally learned the unique feature of the American
political system which centers around the constituent and their representatives. And the power of the House members and the
Senators is best described by "the power of the purse." The administration at that time wanted to punish then
Prime Minister Shamir of Israel on numerous occasions. But it was Capitol Hill, the House,
and Senate that stood by Israel and not only because the friendship
towards Israel but because of their realization that the cooperation between the U.S. and
Israel is a two-way street benefiting the USA. I remember one particular clash between the Administration and the Legislature when
the Administration opposed certain amendments to the Defense Appropriations Bill, amendments which expended defense
cooperation between the U.S. and Israel. And the Chief Appropriator told the Administration very bluntly,
"According to the Constitution, I supervise you, you do not supervise me." The Legislature prevailed and the
Administration had to take a step back. AMIR: That's fascinating. You just mentioned the fact that it's a two-way
street this whole Israel-America relationship. Now most of our viewers are what we call Evangelical
Christians and many of them are from the United States, many others are from all over the world, and for them the
benefit of standing by Israel is primarily spiritually and biblical. However reading your articles and at the very end of this interview, I would
like you to introduce your blog and your report that you put up every few weeks. In your articles,
I read something very fascinating. And that is it's not just a spiritual blessing to America to support and help
and aid Israel every year with about $3 billion, to the best of my knowledge -- AMBASSADOR ETTINGER: 3.8. AMIR: -- 3.8, close to $4 billion a year of an aid to Israel. How do you see America benefiting from it? AMBASSADOR ETTINGER: Well, former Chief of Air Force Intelligence,
General George Keegan, praised cooperation with Israel claiming that the U.S. could not procure the value and
the scope of intelligence derived from Israel as far as the capabilities of Russian-made military systems,
as far as counter-terrorism intelligence, as far as saving American lives. The U.S. could not procure such
intelligence with less than five CIAs. The budget of the CIA to the best of my
knowledge is about $15 billion annually. So let's assume the General George Keegan exaggerated and Israel does
not contribute the value of five CIAs, maybe only two CIAs, maybe only one CIA. It's already almost five times the value of
what is called erroneously foreign aid to Israel. Obviously, we in Israel are grateful for the
$3.8 billion in terms of American military systems. But let's be very, very clear. This is an American investment in Israel,
not a handout to Israel. And the question is: Does that annual investment in
Israel produce any added value and to what extent? So again, according to George Keegan,
this is about 450-500% annual rate of return. I don't know of any American investment overseas
which produces such an annual rate of return. But you can go one step further. The U.S. today employs F-15s
and F-16s in Afghanistan and Iraq. Israel was the first one to
use F-15s in combat missions. And again, Israel was and is grateful to the
U.S. to be able to receive from the U.S. those F 15s. But Israel has been all along a cost-effective, battle-tested laboratory
for the American defense industries and American Armed Services. Today the U.S. flies a highly,
highly improved F-15 primarily because of the Israeli laboratory. For 10 years, Israel employed every single day
the F-15s and the F-16s under battle conditions. The U.S. did not use that F-15
and the F-16 during those 10 years. But in the 11th year, the U.S. first time used that F 15,
it was enriched by modifications compliment of the Israeli laboratory. To give you a specific example, there is an Israeli team on
location in the Missouri plant which manufactures the F-15 and the Fort Worth, Texas,
plant which manufactures the F-16 and F-35. Every single day the Israeli Air Force shares with the manufactures through the Israeli
team lessons learned as far as operations, as far as maintenance, as far as repairs. Those lessons are integrated as upgrades
into the next generation of the plane. One of the managers of the plant in Fort Worth Texas told me that those upgrades' worth
for the manufacturers somewhere around what he termed, "Mega billion-dollar bonanza." Not only is it a mega billion-dollar bonanza, it saves the manufacture
anywhere between 10 and 15 years of research and development. It enhances the competitiveness of the
defense industries in the global competition; therefore, it increases American exports,
it expands the employment base of the American defense industry. Now Israel uses 100,
or well above 100 American military systems. Each one we employ under battle conditions, each one we improve by sharing with the manufacture
our lessons for a simple reason: Israel wants next time to get a better product from the Americans. And it's a two-way street: Israel
benefits and the U.S. benefits. The late General Alexander Haig, who was supreme commander of NATO and later on the U.S. Secretary of
State was one of the more enthusiastic supporter of enhanced cooperation between the U.S. and Israel. And when he was asked,
"How come you're so hot about Israel?" His response was, "Because Israel is the largest American
aircraft carrier which does not require a single American on board, which is deployed in the most critical region for U.S. interests between Europe
and Asia and Africa, between the Mediterranean the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. And if there were not Israel in the Middle East, then the U.S. would have to deploy a few
more real aircraft carriers to this region, a few more ground divisions to this region, all of which would have cost the American taxpayer
anywhere between 15 and $20 billion annually. That's all is spared by one Jewish
state in the western Middle East." And I have literally
other examples. Just to give you one such example,
I visited Birmingham, Alabama. And my first meeting was with a president of one of the campuses in the
Birmingham area who happened to be a former commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps. And we spoke about Iran and
Iraq and U.S.-Israel relations. And then I asked him if he had any
direct contact with the Israeli Defense Forces. And he said, "Absolutely." He said he fought
in the first Gulf War. And the way he told me the way he fought Soviet tanks operated by Saddam was to study
the way Israel fought Soviet tanks operated by the Egyptians in the Sinai Peninsula. And then he ended that he was one of the guys
devising battle tactics for the U.S. Armed forces. And that's done mostly in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas,
the intellectual mecca, so to speak, of the U.S. Armed forces. And then he asked me rhetorically, "How do you think, Yoram, we formulate battle tactics
in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, if not in accordance with the Israeli battle experience?" AMIR: Wow,
what a fascinating topic! It seems like even with the F-35,
there's another wave of improvement based on the Israelis. AMBASSADOR ETTINGER: And much more beneficial to the U.S.
because the F-35 is much more expensive and much more sophisticated. And again,
Israel is the first country to employ the F-35 under battle conditions. Which leads me, with your permission,
to another example. I gave a talk to Dallas crowd, by the way,
it was a Christian conference in Dallas. And at the end,
people came over with their feedback. And one of them introduced himself,
a retired combat pilot from the U.S. Air Force. And he said,
"I would like to add one more example to your inventory." And he said that being a retired combat pilot, he knows that the most productive
time for American combat pilot is joint exercises with the Israeli Air Force. My response was that I'm
very gratified to hear that. But it's very difficult me for me to accept it because after all,
Israel is employing American hard work. The IQ of Israeli pilots is not
higher than the IQ of American pilots. So why would American pilots benefit mostly
when they practice together with Israeli pilots? His response was, "Because Israeli pilots fly always
under do-or-die state of mind, whether it's training or operation. Once you take off in Israel due to the narrow waistline,
you are already within enemies' radar range and enemies' missiles range. American pilots rarely, if it all,
experience do-or-die state of mind." "When you fly under do-or-die state of mind," he told me, the American pilot,
"you perform much more creatively, much more audaciously, and you stretch the capabilities of the American
plane to a range which Americans don't realize." And he told me, "The only way for us American pilots to realize how excellent is
the F-35 or the F-16 or the F-15 is to watching the Israelis maneuvering our plane." That's the reason it's so beneficial for the American Air
Force to conduct joint exercises with the Israeli Air Force. And by the way, during the height of the COVID-19, it was the end of
March when the U.S. canceled almost all joint exercises with foreign militaries. One of the very, very few exercise which was not canceled was a
joint F-35 exercise maneuver between American and Israeli F-35 planes. And the aim was again for the Americans
to realize how really good is the F-35. AMIR: Ambassador Ettinger,
I'm gonna ask you now a political question. But also it borderlines with Bible prophecy and that which
really intrigues many Evangelical Christians around the world. The Book of the prophet Ezekiel describes something that many Israelis and Jewish people
around the world are well familiar with and that's the term "Gog of the land of Magog." Now of course,
I'm not going to go into all of that. But literally,
the biblical account speaks of a future invasion into prospers Israel. And the biblical names given in that chapter are biblical
names that I could verify them through Josephus Flavius and others as modern-day Russia of today, modern-day Turkey of today,
modern-day Iran of today, and then Libya and Sudan as well. And the biblical account is telling us that Israel will be saved because of God's
intervention, but there will be no help coming on the way from any other country. However, an interesting protest for the invasion into Israel is going to come not
only from the West but actually from Sheba and Dedan, which is Saudi Arabia today. And now we're coming to your area of expertise and that is the ever-changing
relationship between Israel and the moderate Sunni Arab world today as well as the probability of one day a Democrat White House
that will no longer see the benefit of even coming and helping Israel. Do you see those things as you look at what's going on in
America today and what's going on in the Middle East as well? AMBASSADOR ETTINGER: Well, it's not only the question of an American president
who may not appreciate the benefits derived to the U.S. from its ally, Israel, it's a question of the tenant of the White House
comprehending the complexities of the Middle East, realizing for instance, the clear and present and lethal danger to the U.S.,
to the free world from the Ayatollahs of Iran, potentially from Erdogan of Turkey who wants
to re-establish the great Ottoman Muslim Empire stretching from Central Asia through the Middle East into Europe,
into Africa, and beyond. The reality is that the Ayatollahs of Iran are
not motivated by a better standard of living. They certainly are not motivated merely by acquiring control of
the Persian Gulf or the Arabian Peninsula or even the Middle East. The Ayatollahs of Iran considered themselves to be the legitimate divinely-ordained leader
of the entire world and the chief emissary of the spread of Islam throughout the globe. We have today already Iranian presence in Central Asia, Iranian presence in the continent of Africa,
presence in South America, Central America, and a growing number of Iranian sleeper cells in the USA. Israel has been in recent
years the front line in facing Iran. Israel on the Golan Heights constrains
the moves of the Ayatollahs in Syria. Israel on the Golan Heights constrains the moves of
Erdogan of Turkey who has his troops also in Syria and Iraq. And certainly, Israel on the Golan Heights
constrains the moves of Russia which is present in Syria. Moreover, when it comes to the pro-American Arab regimes such as Saudi Arabia and the
United Arab Emirates and Bahrain and Kuwait and the Oman, certainly Jordan and Egypt, each one of them has recently expanded its ties with Israel, not because they love peace and
not because they accept the so-called infidel sovereignty in what they call the abode of Islam. For a simple reason: They all consider the Jewish state to be the most effective life
insurance agent in the Middle East upon which they can trust, upon which they can rely. They had a bad experience with President Obama for 10 years when they saw the number
one threat each one of them, the Ayatollah of Iran getting tailwind from Washington. They have better experience currently with President Trump,
but they fear what will happen in January. One thing they're certain: Whether it's left-leaning coalition in Israel or
right-leaning coalition in Israel, they can trust the capabilities of the Jewish state. And they do that because Israel is the best defense line,
for instance, of the Hashemite regime in Jordan. The Hashemite regime of Jordan knows very well that should there be a Palestinian
state west of the Jordan River, it would doom the Hashemites regime east of the river. And any alternative that the Hashemite regime in Jordan would be either worse or worst or devilish
as far as stability in the region, as far as the interest of the U.S. and Western democracies. Once the Hashemites regime is toppled, there will be ripple effects from Jordan
southward into Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Arabian Peninsula for American regimes. And therefore, Israel stands in the way of the Ayatollahs to
implement their megalomaniac vision to control the entire world. We stand in the way of Erdogan of Turkey to
follow a similar megalomaniacal vision of his own. And therefore once again, it's Israel which is the most effective beachhead of the
U.S. in such a critical region, not only for the Middle East but for the entire world. AMIR: Do you agree with me that the Democrats of
20 years ago in America are not the Democrats of today? And their view of Israel then and their
view of Israel today's quite different. AMBASSADOR ETTINGER: Well,
it's not only the view of Israel. There is a term in the U.S. "Blue Dog Democrat,"
which is a contrary to a "Yellow Dog Democrat." A "Yellow Dog Democrat" would rather
vote for a "Yellow Dog" then for a Republican. A "Blue Dog Democrat"
is a moderate Democrat. In the old days, you couldn't be elected for a nationwide position
unless you have the support of the "Blue Dog" of the moderate Democrats. It may be that those days are gone. We'll have to wait for November to realize that, but there is no doubt
that the radical wing of the Democratic Party is expanding substantially. And that goes back to the fundamental values
which surged the U.S. to global prominence. The current population which votes for a Democratic Party is less
connected to the value of the early Pilgrims and the Founding Fathers. Such values as patriotism, such values as "In God we trust," faith, such values as the values
driven by the Ten Commandments, by the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. Increasingly,
we see people detached from those values. Detachment from those values departs one from the legacy,
again, of the early Pilgrims and the Founding Fathers. The very wise Founding Fathers clarified that while there should be a separation
between state and church, there must not be separation between religion and society. They understood that to separate society from religion
denies society of the very, very positive core values which determine personal and communal and national relationships,
a coalescing type of precepts of society. Today sadly,
we see a decline of those values. You can see it by the way, and you know probably better than I do,
in attendance of Americans in churches. It's about 30% attendance during Sunday services,
which is still dramatically higher in then Europe, but it's declining. Less and less young
Americans attend church. We see today on the streets in big cities in America defacing core monuments,
defacing American history, disregard for American history. You disregard your past, you basically forsake your future because the only responsible way
to confront the future, to advance in the future is by relying on by studying your past. And the American past and core
element has been Judeo-Christian values. AMIR: Amen to that. Let's move a little bit to
the Israeli-Palestinian track. I know that you wrote quite a few things on the benefit of an Israeli
implementation of sovereignty on Judea, Samaria, and the Jordan Valley. I'm talking about part of the
Trump "Deal of the Century." It seems to me that most Israelis are more or less happy about that deal,
whereas the Palestinians categorically are against it. Do you see any benefit for America from an Israeli implementation of
sovereignty in the Jordan Valley and the settlements in the West Bank? AMBASSADOR ETTINGER: I'll take you back to October 1994,
the signing of the Jordan-Israel peace treaty. I heard from the top Israeli military commanders that they
were approached by their Jordanian colleagues at the ceremony and were told clearly, "Make sure that no Palestinian state is allowed to be established on the mountains
of Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley because that will doom us in Jordan, east of the Jordan River." Namely an Israeli control of the mountain ridges of Judea-Samaria and the
Jordan Valley is the first line of defense for the Hashemite regime in Jordan. Obviously,
it's critical for Israel's survival as well. Because if you deny Israel control of the mountains of Judea-Samaria, you revert Israel
back to the narrow sliver between the mountains of Judea-Samaria, and the Mediterranean. That's an 8 to 15 mile sliver in the raging, unpredictable,
intolerant, violent tenuous, frustrating Middle East. Those are suicidal lines. However, controlling the mountain ridges of
Judea-Samaria renders the U.S. major benefits. The mountain ridges of Judea-Samaria and the Golan Heights are two paramount
national security, topographic, geographic elements in the Middle East. Back in 1970 when pro-Soviet Syria invaded pro-U.S. Jordan, U.S. was back down in
Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and could not stretch a hand and help their ally, Jordan. The American president then, Nixon,
called Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, laid out the reality, and within 48 hours, Israel deployed it's forces to the trilateral
border of Israel, Syria, and Jordan, which is the Golan Heights. Within 24 hours, the Syrian forces retreated back to Syria
without exchanging a single bullet with the Israeli Defense Forces. It was the posture of deterrence of Israel on the Golan
Heights on the mountains of Judea-Samaria which did the job. You take away Israel from those two highly important topographic geographic, Golan Heights and Judean-Samaria
mountains, and you expose every single pro-American Arab regime to the wrath of the Ayatollahs, to the wrath of ISIS,
to the wrath of the Muslim Brotherhood. And you are headed towards causing an avalanche
of anti-American evolution in the Middle East. Israel on top of those mountains serves America's interests, serves the interest
of American allies in the Arab world, and obviously serves the interest of Israel. But maybe most importantly the mountain ridges of Judea-Samaria are in fact the cradle of Jewish
history, the cradle of Judaism, the cradle of Jewish culture, the cradle of Jewish history. And how can any people forsake or retreat from the
cradle of its history and still expect to survive in the future? AMIR: Ambassador Ettinger, one of the most frustrating things
to me as an Israeli, and I consider myself as a conservative Israeli. I don't like to use the terms,
"Right or Left." I think there are the Conservatives and I think that
there are those that call themselves Progressives. And once, by the way, they call themselves "Progressives," they always claim
that we are "left behind," that we're somehow thinking "old-fashioned ways." But you know what? I'm not offended by that claim that I think the "old-fashioned way" because unfortunately,
I can say many of the new things that are being offered on the table are disastrous. Now let's try and unlock something that I've been
sensing and watching and witnessing from a very young age. I've read the book written
by President Harry Truman. It's his memoirs. And the chapter that he gave to the birth of the State of Israel was fascinating
to me because I saw almost the same tricks that I see today of intimidation, of painting things in the worst way in order to stop America from taking bold
steps when it comes to supporting Israel's existence and Israel's sovereignty here. I'm not even talking about Judea, Samaria,
or the Golan Heights; I'm talking about Israel as a nation. You and I know that if it wasn't for President Truman's determination, if it was all
up to the State Department of that time with George Marshall as the Secretary of State, the U.S. would not have
voted "yea" for a Jewish state. They did not want that. More than 70 years later, we all witnessed when it comes
to President Trump's move of the Embassy to Jerusalem -- now this intimidation is not only coming from the liberal State
Department but it also comes unfortunately from the Israeli establishment. We see the same thing going on with Israeli Foreign Service and Israeli
generals that I think were brainwashed somewhere in America, in their studies. And how do you as someone who served -- and obviously you served
in the Israeli military -- but you also served in the Israeli Foreign Service. How do you settle all that we know about this region and all that we know about the people we're
dealing with, our neighbors and all that, with this mindset that still: "Land will give us peace." And still: "Let's not make
our neighbors angry." "Let's not take care of our own
lest we make our neighbors angry." How do you see that? AMBASSADOR ETTINGER: Well, this has been the reality of so-called
Western conventional wisdom, and by Western, I also include Israel. And the record is very,
very clear, as you suggested. In 1948, the State Department, the Pentagon,
and the CIA along with The New York Times and Washington Post, they all opposed the establishment of the Jewish state,
claiming that the Jewish state was going to be pro-Soviet, anti-American. And why was that? Because the Founding Fathers of the
Jewish state came from East Europe. It never occurred to them that coming from East Europe made them very well aware of
the evil of Communist system, and therefore, they became right away pro-American. They also claimed that the Jewish state would not be able to
sustain the coordinated Arab invasion of the newly-founded state. And they were overwhelmed when we
crashed all the Arab armies around us. They also claimed that there was
supposedly there was a zero-sum game. Either you're pro-Israel
or your pro-Arab. And it never occurred to them that Arabs have many more
issues which are much more important than the Israeli issue. And in fact, when you go fast-forward 72 years from 1948,
you'll find out how wrong the establishment was at that time. But it wasn't the only
time they were wrong. '78, '79, it was an American President Jimmy Carter who stabbed the
back America's policemen in the Gulf, America's arch-ally the Shah of Iran. And it was the conventional wisdom of Jimmy Carter and the Department of State
and basically the Defense and the Foreign Policy establishment in Washington which assumed that Ayatollah Khomeini in exile in those
days in Paris only wanted democracy and he wanted peace. And it was the despotic Shah supposedly who
denied the Iranian people peace and democracy. And in fact, it was an American president who turned strong Iran from the number
one ally to the number one enemy at the center of international terrorism. You move fast forward
to the Iran-Iraq war. Iran-Iraq war planted the misperception
that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, namely Saddam Hussein considers Iran to be his enemy and
therefore supposedly Saddam Hussein is a friend of the U.S. And literally until the day of the invasion of Kuwait back in August of 1990, the U.S.
considers Saddam Hussein to be worthy of joint intelligence exchanges and agreements of a target to receive dual-use sophisticated systems from the U.S.
and be a recipient of mega-billions dollars worth of loan guarantees. And it was the invasion of Kuwait which crashed this conventional
wisdom when the Arab tsunami erupted in December of 2010. Right away it was accorded very elegant name Arab
Spring by the foreign policy establishment in Washington, by President Obama,
by the Secretary of State by the National Security Adviser. And it never occurred to that establishment that the riots and the blood-letting on
the streets of Arab capitals in the Middle East was not indeed a Facebook revolution or youth revolution or march of democracy,
as Obama and Hillary Clinton and John Kerry defined that. And then also came
the case of Israel. Israel signing that Oslo Accord with Palestinians,
with the PLO. The Oslo Accord for any realistic assessment of
the Middle East was a major self-destruct agreement. However, it was President Clinton together with Israeli
leaders in 1993 who blessed Yasser Arafat of the PLO as a peacemaker, ushered him in to receive the Nobel Prize for peace, notwithstanding the fact that the Oslo Accord
introduced unprecedented wave of hate education, an unprecedented wave of Palestinian terrorism into our area. The reason for that gap between Western establishment misperception on the one hand and Middle East reality
on the other hand is the huge difference between the Middle Eastern culture and the Western culture. In the West,
there's a tendency to accord heavy weight to Arab talk. You hear frequently from Western leaders, "We visited Arab capitals and
we hear everywhere Palestinian issue, Palestinian issue, Palestinian issue." But that's the talk. Do you examine also the Arab walk,
which is exactly 180 from that talk. And obviously, it's much easier to rely on talk rather than spend
time and thoughts and assessments on an analyzing the Arab walk. When it comes to Arab walk,
no Arab country wants a Palestinian state. No Arab country has ever shed
a drop of blood for Palestinians. Arab countries have given petty type of contributions, financial
contributions to the Palestinian cause, and there is a reason for that. The reason is that the Arabs perceive Palestinians to be the role
mode of inter-Arab treachery and inter-Arab terrorism and subversion. In 1955, Arafat and Mahmud Abbas, the leaders of the Palestinians,
had to run away from Egypt for subversion and terrorism. They were involved with the
Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. Syria opened its doors, but by 1966, the Palestinians could not
control themselves and they launched a wave of terrorism inside Syria. They had to run away
from Syria to Jordan. Jordan allowed them to operate
terrorism against Israel for two years. But by 1970 they felt strong enough to try and topple the Hashemite regime in
Jordan, which yielded a civil war in Jordan and they had to run away to Lebanon. For five years, 1970-1975,
they plundered southern Lebanon. They felt strong enough to challenge the center regime in Beirut,
which caused a series of civil wars inside Lebanon. And then came 1990,
Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait. Kuwait by that time was the most generous
Arab country towards the Palestinians. They absorbed 400,000 Palestinians,
second only to Jordan as far as Palestinian population in an Arab country. They allowed them to ascend to top administrative,
financial, business positions. The levied a 5% excise tax on any Palestinian earning and transferred it to
the stashed accounts of Arafat and Mahmud Abbas throughout the world. But it was that most generous Arab host which was stabbed in its back
by the Palestinians who collaborated with Saddam's invasion of Kuwait, which was the reason for Sheikh Al-Sabah of Kuwait, upon reasserting himself compliment of American
blood and American finances, the first thing he did was expelling almost all Palestinians from Kuwait. And the question which I always pose to Americans and Israelis who adhere to this
universalism type of state of mind: Why don't you study the Arab conduct towards Palestinians? Why do you rely so much on the Arab
talk rather than examine the Arab walk? In the Middle East, there is the saying,
"On words, one does not pay custom." Why not use it? Moreover, in the Middle East,
which is conducted mostly in accordance with the fundamentals of Islam, there is even a commandment to use
misleading dissimulation type of language -- AMIR: Taqiyya. AMBASSADOR ETTINGER: Taqiyya,
in order to mislead and overcome the so-called infidel. That type of rhetoric does
not obligate you as a Muslim. It's a tactic in the
war against the infidel. And we can ask ourselves: How many times
have we heard the term "peace" uttered by Arabs and how many times have they violated it,
not mostly vis-a-vie Israel, mostly in their own internal Arab wars. And I think we would benefit greatly if we would study the
Arab conduct towards themselves and towards Palestinians rather than rely on Arab
rhetoric as our own pillar of fire. AMIR: This has been one of the most
fascinating and interesting interview that I had here because you give so much wisdom that comes from personal experience,
not just a study guide from somewhere. I would like to conclude this interview with your opinion on the future of the
Israeli-American relationship as we approach the November elections in the United States and as we watch what is going on in the streets of some of
the major cities in America today in the growing anti-Semitism that is accompanying Black Lives Matter's Agenda, antifa's agenda,
the embrace of these organizations of the Palestinian narrative on one hand, and of course, on the other hand to see a representative such as Ilhan
Omar and Rashida Talib that are not even hiding their anti-Israeli policies. How do you see the future of the Israeli-American
relationship in light of all that I just describe? AMBASSADOR ETTINGER: The future of the bilateral relations must be a derivative of
past relations, learning how to avoid mistakes, and learning how to improve ourselves. When we watch past performance,
there is an obvious conclusion. There is a unique synergy between
the American and the Israeli societies. And that unique synergy is a derivative of the fundamentals
of both societies going back again to Judeo-Christian values. One needs, in my mind, to revive those values,
to strengthen those values, both in the U.S. as well as in Israel. We have here two societies
that are based on faith. There are certain differences in faith, but there's no difference in the
realization of the centrality of faith and the centrality of belief in God. In fact, the reality of the American federal system is a derivative of the Old Testament, which has
taught us that there is only one king, God, and no human being should be a king over other human beings. The early Pilgrims, the Founding Fathers took it from the judge,
Gideon, and from the prophet, Samuel. We need to make sure that the defiances of odds, which has
characterized American society and the Israeli societies remain as such. And again, the defiance of odds is a lesson
which will learn from all the ancient Jewish history. The 40 years in the desert was one major defiance of odds again guided by faith,
guided by the belief in God at the same time. At the same time, we should also pay attention of Americans mostly,
but also Israelis as far as the very tangible benefits. We are today collaborating medically to find different medications, different
vaccination systems against the coronavirus and against future pandemics. And again, American and Israeli bio-tech companies have worked together for many,
many years yielding much benefits to both sides. There is a reason why some 250 American high-tech giants operate
research and development centers in Israel leveraging the brainpower. And the reason has to do with a synergy between
the American brainpower and the Israeli brainpower. And I would venture to say more, more than any other synergy
whether it's American-British or American-French or American-German, the American-Israeli synergy works better commercially, works better militarily,
works better because of the foundations of both societies. I would like to see Israel paying
more attention to small-town America. Small-town America has unique
political power inside America. And small-town America has an abundance of pro-Israel,
pro-Judeo-Christian sentiments. But again, sadly most Israeli movers and shakers are
acquainted with New York and Los Angeles and Chicago, maybe even Houston and
Dallas and Atlanta and Miami, but not with a small-town America, not with Nacogdoches,
Texas, and not with the Boaz or Dothan, Alabama. But that's where in my mind the core power of America exists
and certainly the core engine behind the special America-Israel ties. AMIR: Ambassador Ettinger, if people want to stay in touch with what you write and what you say,
can you tell our viewers how to follow you on social media or forums that you are writing for? AMBASSADOR ETTINGER: Well,
I publish weekly articles in English and in Hebrew. They're posted on my website
www.TheEttingerReport.com. I also post my articles on
Facebook and Twitter and Linkedln. I produced a number of short videos on the 400th anniversary
of U.S.-Israel kinship on various aspects of the Middle East. And I would welcome any feedback even straight directly to my own email,
which is one word -yoram.tex@gmail.com. AMIR: Well thank you very much
for being our guest on this interview. And I'm looking forward to the next time we're gonna meet together and talk
on current issues and glean from your wonderful wisdom, thank you very much. AMBASSADOR ETTINGER:
Thank you very much. (Music playing)
