‘Stop delegitimizing us,’ Israeli ambassador to U.S. says after embassy worker killings

Nick Schifrin:

What does this say about the threat to your staff, to staff at other Israeli embassies and diplomatic institutions around the world, perhaps even the threat to Jews in general who attend public events like this?

Yechiel Leiter:

Well, look, there's an international attempt to delegitimize and demonize Israel. We're called the worst kinds of names. Our prime minister is called a war criminal. All of our soldiers are referred to in such derogatory fashion.

And the ultimate result is going to be people streaming through the streets of campuses screaming "From the river to the sea," which is a genocidal chant, which is basically calling for the elimination of Israel. And if there's a genocidal idea, ultimately, people are going to take guns and use them against Jews. That's what happened.

Antisemitism is as old as the Jewish people. It just takes on different forms. Today, that form is anti-Israelism and anti-Zionism.

Nick Schifrin:

The Anti-Defamation League cited the highest number of antisemitic attacks last year since it's been started measuring a half-century ago, including a nearly 900 percent increase in the last decade.

Police say that the war on Gaza has accelerated incidents, but what do you think is the cause of this kind of hate?

Yechiel Leiter:

Well, the war on Gaza is a response to a Nazi-like attack on our civilians. We're responding to violence.

What's causing this spike in antisemitism — and the ADL is spot on in their figures — is the demonization of the state of Israel, the attempt to say that we are interlopers or colonizers or occupiers, that we don't really belong. So if we don't belong, we need to be removed. If we need to be removed, that's an eliminationist way of thinking, and almost anything that's done, whether it's violent or violent, verbiage is permitted.

So, obviously, there's going to be a spike. The battle against antisemitism has to take the form of battling against this delegitimization of Israel. With the people of Israel, we have been there long before there was a geographic location called Palestine. We will be there long into the future. And that is exactly what we're fighting for.

Nick Schifrin:

As we heard in the story that aired right before you and I started speaking, Prime Minister Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Saar, blamed the murders here in Washington U.N. and European officials who've criticized Israel's recent block of humanitarian aid from reaching Gaza.

Do you believe that your two staff are dead because of foreign officials' critiques?

Yechiel Leiter:

Do Prime Minister Starmer and President Macron and Prime Minister Carney have some explaining to do? They certainly do, because what they are attempting to do is unilaterally declare a Palestinian state. They want to give a prize to Hamas, as if October 7 should be Palestine liberation day.

Leading the charge in this is President Macron. It's a contortion of morality. This is almost, I would say, moral depravity. You don't award terrorists with sovereignty, with recognition. So, do they share in the blame for the rise of antisemitism? Absolutely.

Stop beating up on Israel. Stop condemning us. Stop delegitimizing us. We're not doing anything that is comparable to what we're being charged with doing. I lost my son, by the way, who led forces into Gaza on foot. We didn't strap-bomb population centers.

If we'd be guilty of what these Western leaders are accusing us of, my son might be alive today. So, please, don't give us lectures of morality, Mr. Macron. The French army has a long history of all sorts of violations around the world. We are in consonance with international law and with moral law.

Nick Schifrin:

May your son's memory, sir, be a blessing.

You mentioned the new plan to distribute aid into Gaza. The prime minister has talked about that today, this U.S. company that will move into Gaza with U.S. security. The prime minister talked about — quote — "The Palestinian population will move there" into these new pockets for their own safety.

How will this aid distribution work? Are you using these aid distribution pockets in order to move the population into certain areas?

Yechiel Leiter:

No, actually, we have moved populations earlier in order to move them to safety. The food under this program, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, will be distributed.

Instead of doing it through Hamas, will be done in distribution centers. Each distribution center will be able to service some 300,000 people. The food and aid will go directly to families, not to organizations. So the people that need it most will get it. This is a dramatic improvement in what's been going on until now, despite the fact that the humanitarian aid that we have been providing, these 92,000 trucks, 1.8 million tons, despite the fact it was going to Hamas in large numbers, we continue to do it.

Nick Schifrin:

Finally, sir, I don't have that much time left. So I just wanted to return to Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim.

Both of them worked on coexistence, as you know. What do you think the best way is to continue their legacy?

Yechiel Leiter:

They did. They did.

The best way to continue their legacy is to forge forward with coexistence, and, at the same time, to continue to defeat the evil that is intent on preventing coexistence. The attack on October 7 stemmed from Iran's absolute conviction that the Abraham Accords were moving forward, that coexistence was moving forward.

And the attack was intent on thwarting that coexistence. If we defeat those who would stand in the way of coexistence, we will be able to move to a peaceful Middle East.

Nick Schifrin:

Ambassador Leiter, thank you very much.

Yechiel Leiter:

Thank you, Nick.