00:00There is no doubt that Trump taking a hand and putting his foot down has forced Netanyahu.
00:14Trump is a supremacist in the full sense. He wants to make it clear, I am the boss and
00:19you will take orders from me and the White House will not do what Netanyahu wants.
00:23So do you think it's a loss for Netanyahu or is it a win situation?
00:29Trump, it is definitely a setback to Netanyahu's power. The worst genocide in human memory
00:37in recent history has been brought to an end. Trump will talk and has said he can talk to
00:44Russia. He has already talked to Chinese President Xi Jinping. Russia too has a relationship
00:49with Israel. It's a secret relationship. One doesn't know on what basis Russia and
00:54Israel relate to each other. But you will not find much open conflict.
00:59We switch to Israel-Hamas ceasefire. Yesterday only we saw the ceasefire happening. Now Biden
01:06says that he has done it before leaving the office. But Trump on the other hand says that
01:10it's his fear or Trump supporters are saying that it's his fear which made the ceasefire
01:15happen. So what do you think? Who is the real peacemaker in this situation?
01:19It's not what I think. It's kind of both have been creating perceptions. It's a question
01:24of perception. What really went on, we knew that there were long agonizing talks for more
01:29than 90 or 96 hours in Qatar and Doha where these people are all talking. But I think
01:37in large measure, everybody knew that the war would have to end before the new president
01:43came in. So Biden would not have wanted to stay out of it all the time. But there is
01:49no doubt that Trump taking a hand and putting his foot down has forced Netanyahu to this
01:58thing. As somebody said, he must have taken Netanyahu's arm and twisted it. And when he
02:04didn't bend, then he would have told him in his ear, I want you to do this or I'm going
02:08to break your arm. Well, he didn't exactly do that, but he nearly did that in civil terms.
02:14For instance, who did he send? He didn't send any political figure. He sent a man called
02:20Steve Witkoff, who's a builder and builder, a construction magnate, a realist. We all
02:27know the kind of people who deal with those who get work done in the construction industry
02:32and what kind of language they use. So the story, the report is that Witkoff went and
02:38he said he wanted to come there and hold talks. And they said, oh, this is Sabbath day. So
02:44I think he told them something which is not printable, nor can I repeat it here, which
02:48made Netanyahu kind of quickly bow down to whatever was being asked and send officials
02:54who could negotiate. So what I would say is that Netanyahu ceased being de facto president
03:00of the US, which he was as long as Biden was running the show. And Trump is a supremacist
03:07in the full sense. He wants to make it clear, I am the boss and you will take orders from
03:12me and the White House will not do what Netanyahu wants.
03:15Okay, so that's quite a big statement. Also, many people are saying that it's a loss for
03:21Netanyahu to take three hostages in return of 90 prisoners. And many people are saying,
03:28even in Netanyahu's own government, they are saying that this should not be done. And many
03:32ministers have said that they will resign if the ceasefire happens. So do you think
03:36it's a loss for Netanyahu or is it a win situation?
03:42It is definitely a setback to Netanyahu's power. First and foremost, he has lost all
03:47leverage with the US. And Trump has moved in in unexpected ways. When he was in office
03:52last time, the person he entrusted to deal with Israel and the West Asian situation and
03:58Saudi Arabia, which led to the Abraham Accords, was his son-in-law Jared Kushner. This time
04:04Kushner is not on the scene. It was none of the political heavyweight. He chose a man
04:09who will be a messenger and who will show his fist, if necessary, and use hard words
04:15when called for. So it clearly shows that he is moving beyond diplomacy to exercise
04:20power and get the outcome that he wants. And what is the outcome he wants? He wanted an
04:26end to the war. Because it is unrealistic to expect that anybody can finish Hamas or
04:32the aspiration for a Palestine. That cannot happen. And I think Netanyahu was saying that
04:39so that he could keep the war going.
04:41Sir, also, what do you think that after Trump takes office, what's going to be the situation
04:48in Middle East? Because we saw a government takeover in Syria. Then Israel-Hamas ceasefire.
04:56Then how Trump's taking office this year is going to make difference in the Middle East?
05:02Trump's taking office, the first and foremost thing to be kept in mind is that the worst
05:10genocide in human memory in recent history has been brought to an end. And to the eternal
05:18shame, disgrace and criminality of the US administration led by Joe Biden, it was party
05:24to the genocide. The US could not have waged this war. The Israel could not have waged
05:29this war against Palestinians as they did. But for 70% of its resources, including arms
05:35and ammunition, coming from the US government and being supported by the Western powers
05:40out of hostility to Hamas. So, one can say that now people will have to, there's been
05:47a change in Syria as well. And the US is an occupying force in Syria. The US army is very
05:53much there on the ground in Syria. So, here is a security situation where what happened
05:59in Syria could not have happened without the tacit consent of say Russia, which has been
06:06the only security challenge to the US in Syria particularly.
06:10The only Assad supporter.
06:11Yes. So, I think everybody is prepared for change in Syria because it was inevitable.
06:18And the US itself otherwise had designated these organizations as terrorists. But they
06:23found that regardless of whatever hedging they did, these organizations had, it's much
06:28like the Taliban, when they eventually took Kabul because they had the rest of Afghanistan.
06:34It's a reality that cannot be denied, you have to come to terms with. So, the first
06:37thing now, I think, is if the big powers work together, because Trump will talk and has
06:45said he can talk to Russia. He has already talked to Chinese President Xi Jinping. And
06:51it is the Chinese President who brokered the deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran. So, one
06:57can see that gradually things might move in the direction of the Arab states led by Saudi
07:04Arabia and the organization of Islamic countries in which both Iran and Saudi Arabia are influential
07:12figures and with the US and Russia also going along. So, what exactly will happen, we cannot
07:19plot the steps right now. But definitely, there's going to be a clear break with what
07:25Biden had done.
07:26So, on the back foot, are we going to see a fight between US and Russia in the Middle
07:32East ground?
07:33There will definitely be a jostling for power because almost, there is almost no conflict
07:39in the world in which the big powers are not involved. And it is an exercise in carving
07:43out spheres of influence by each of them. They want their respective spheres of influence.
07:49But at the same time, they'll have to acknowledge that in this case, clearly now, Trump has
07:54the upper hand, especially if he is able to leash Netanyahu as he has done. And Russia
08:00might go along because Russia too has a relationship with Israel. It's a secret relationship. One
08:07doesn't know on what basis Russia and Israel relate to each other. But you will not find
08:13much open conflict or exchange of hostile words between Israel and Russia.
08:19Yes, we don't see it openly being done.
08:21Yes.
Comments