Transcript of Israel braces for retaliation from Iran after sending 'strong message' with latest attack

All right, Mike and Eric, more than this now. Let's bring in former Israeli Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett. Mr. Bennett, thank you very much for joining us here. First of all, Iran says this represents a serious escalation and changes the rules of the game. So do you anticipate a consequential response from Iran, or did Israel send a strong message to Iran to stop while you can?

Well, our actions send a message. I think what we've seen over the past few hours is that Israel's iron fist can reach anywhere, anywhere in the Middle East. I think the mulas in Teheran see it. I think they're now understanding that if you mess with the Jewish state, we hit back, we hit back powerfully, and we will no longer tolerate anyone who's threatening our people.

Okay, meanwhile, Nizral Hezbollah is dead. So I ask you, can a decapitated Hezbollah still forge a formidable fight? Also, is another idea of ground incursion in Lebanon imminent, or is there a diplomatic off-ramp?

Well, I want to clarify what our objective is. Our objective is not only a ceasefire, only for Hezbollah to recuperate. Right now, Hezbollah is temporarily paralyzed, almost paralyzed. We hit them bad. We killed their CEO, Nasrallah. We killed their board of directors. We killed their executive management. And whoever conducted the Pajer attack also took out much of their mid-level management. So right now, Hezbala is in shambles, but that is temporary. If we let up, then they will ultimately be able to recover and threaten our Northern citizens again. I want to point out for the For the last 35 years, they've been making our lives hell. They've killed scores of Israelis. They killed my best friend. Over the past year, they could kill dozens of Israelis, including 12 children playing soccer. What we need to set as an objective is to permanently remove the threat of Hezbala in the north.

Does that mean a ground incursion is going to be a part of that maneuver?

That's a There's a couple of ways to achieve it. I trust that the IDF knows how to get that done.

Okay, we'll move on. We're eight days from the horrific Hamas terror attack in Israel, the day Iran tried to stop normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Now, this morning, Republican Senator Lindsay Graham had a message about this. Let's listen.

To my friends in Israel, to my friends in Saudi Arabia, Bibi gave a great speech about the benefits of the deal. I've gone over since last April seven times trying to help this administration normalize between Saudi Arabia and Israel. Do not give up. Do not let Iran win. Do the deal.

So I ask you, is a deal to end the Arab-Israel conflict going to get done?

I hope so. I think that deal where we create an alliance of the positive countries and the moderate countries in the region, the Saudis, the Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt, etc, in order to fight and repel the horrible axis of evil of Iran, Hezba al-Hamas. I think that now with Israel on the offensive, we need to set a very clear goal. The goal is that within a reasonable time frame, to topple the Iranian regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran. You see, that Iranian regime is the epicenter of all our problems in the Middle East, and it's despised by its own people. The Iranian people hate their regime. It's an incompetent, corrupt, mean old regime that will fall. But I think America, Israel, and the allies in the region can accelerate the demise of that regime.

How How do you do it and what's a reasonable time frame?

Well, you do it not necessarily with war, but you use a bunch of tools similar to what was used against the Soviet Union in the '80s. I'm talking about economic sanctions, diplomatic sanctions. I'm talking about empowering the people of Iran who go out and protest, and every time they protest, the Iranian regime turns off their Internet. We can take care of turning it back on. There's a lot of things that we can do to empower the Iranian people to overthrow their regime. I want to make one more point. Over the past 30 years, and especially the past year after October seventh, our enemies thought that Israel has lost it, that the Israelis are weak, exhausted, not willing to sacrifice anymore, that we've lost our edge. I'm here to say very clearly, Israel is a nation of lions. Our people, thousands of people, drove down on October seventh to defend brothers and sisters, and many of them lost their lives. The state of Israel has shown that we are willing to sacrifice. We are willing to fight for freedom. We are willing to put our ideals on top of our material considerations, and we've not lost our edge.

We can be clever, sophisticated, surprise our enemies, and it's only begun. My point to the region and to our enemies We're back. We're back big, and we can make the Middle East a much better place.

The lines are roaring, no doubt, sir. Meanwhile, there is no ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza War. Do you know how many hostages are still being held in Gaza that are still alive? And is there still a plan to rescue them?

There's 100 hostages in Hamas's We don't know the precise number. I hope more than half of them are alive. We have to bring them home. This is a fundamental tenet of Israel's ethos that we never Forget anyone. We never leave anyone behind. Israel must bring them home. We have to step up the pressure on Yixi Sanuar and reach a deal where we can bring them home safe and alive because right now, they're suffocating in those tunnels. It's a horrible thing. Just a few days from now, it's going to be a year for their kidnap. They were kidnapped from their beds, from their homes. This is unacceptable.

Indeed, it's unacceptable. Do you think you'll get those hostages as home soon, sir?

We have to. We have to apply the pressure and at the same time, build the right deal to bring them home.

Okay, so Israel is fighting Hamas in Gaza. I'm going to wrap here. Hezbollah in Lebanon with 37 days until the US presidential election. Can US diplomacy work before then?

Well, we need America's back to defeat our enemies, to remove the noose that's been around our neck for so many years that we mistakenly let it build over the past 15, for 20 years, but now we are on the offensive. What we need from America, America's help is, one, have our back, and two, bring the hostages home, create a deal where we can bring all the hostages home in the right manner.

I believe America has made it clear that they have your back. But I do want to ask you, are we looking at a widespread war now, given what's happening there in Lebanon?

Well, it is already a widespread war in the sense that our enemies for the past year have been hitting us again and again and killing Israelis and created a no man's land in Northern Israel. The only difference over the past 10 days is that now it's a two-sided war where we're hitting back. Those who did not press for 11 months to dismantle Hezbala, I would suggest that when we're hitting back, don't tie our hands and let us get the job done, because what we do now will bring quiet, stability, and security, and hopefully, peace for the next decades forward.

Understood, sir. The question remains what you will do now and how long it's going to take. But we are going to watch. We appreciate your time today, and I'm really sorry to hear about your best friend, sir. I did hear that.Former Israeli Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett.Thank you.Thank you very much.Thank.

You very much.