(intense music)

- As the American mediaobsesses over Helsinki

and President Trump'srelationship with Vladimir Putin,

there's some news that hasreceived scant attention.

Israeli spent hourshunkered down in the safety

of bomb shelters afterPalestinians launched

a barrage of rocketsagainst them from Gaza.

It was the biggest attacksince the Gaza War of 2014.

Now, here to discuss this and more is

Israel's representativeto the United Nations.

He's Ambassador Danny Danon.

Mr. Ambassador, welcome.

It's glad to have youhere at CBN this time.

- Thank you for having us.

- Yeah, so tell me about this.

The media didn't pay alot of attention to it.

What we did see in the mediawas criticism of Israel.

How do you handle this situation?

What do you do to minimize the threat?

- Pick any country in theworld and imagine that

in one weekend, you would have 200 rockets

flowing to that city.

It would be everywhere in the news.

That's what happenedlast weekend in Israel.

More than 200 mortars andmissiles came from Gaza

into our cities, triedto hit innocent Israelis

and was anywhere.

It is unfortunate, eachof the double standards

that Israel is beingtreated, not only at the UN,

but also by the international media.

But we are strong, we will prevail

and we are very optimisticbecause we have a strong army

that defends our people.

- I was gonna ask you, sowhat do you do about it?

How do you minimize thisthreat against Israel

coming from Gaza?

- Our policy is very clear.

If the children in southern Israel are not

able to sleep at night,the Hamas terrorists

will not be able to sleep at night.

We used our mighty army.

We used our air force and retaliated.

Military facilities of Hamas,the terrorist organization,

but I ask more.

When I go to the UN, I will demand

that they will designate Hamasas a terrorist organization

the same way you designatedAl-Qaeda and Isis,

Hamas would be on the listof the terror organizations.

- I think Hezbollah is alsoon that list for the U.S.,

is it not?

- For the U.S., not for the UN.

In the UN, they cannot evenname Hezbollah or Hamas.

They cannot say, "Let'scondemn those organizations."

They're afraid fromfacing those evil forces.

- Your Knesset justrecently passed legislation,

declaring that Israel isactually a Jewish state.

What's wrong with that?- That's another fact.

- It's obvious.

Like in the U.S., you have a Constitution.

In Israel, we do not have a Constitution.

We have basic laws and these will actually

speak about the character of Israel.

It speaks about our national anthem,

about our flag, about our language.

It's a full democracy.

Muslim, Christian and Jewshave the same, equal rights.

So there's no problemwith this legislation,

but some people cannot recognize Israel

as a Jewish state.

That's why they are againstany kind of legislation.

- So what do you do about that?

Do you just--

- We continue to thrive.

We continue to educate our children.

We continue to build our economy

and at the same time,we have a strong army

to defend ourselves.

We cannot live accordingto the expectations

of our adversaries at the UN.

We see a lot of hypocrisy coming,

many from European countries

who tend to blame Israel for everything

and I think when theylook at the reality today,

then Israel is not a problem.

Israel is a solution for theproblems in the Middle East.

- President Trump at his Helsinkisummit with Vladimir Putin

said that relations betweenIsrael and Russia have improved,

that there's a good relationshipbetween Bibi Netanyahu,

your Prime Minister andalso Vladimir Putin.

So, what has the difference been?

How has that changedIsrael and the Middle East

having a better relationship with Russia?

- For us, it's important tohave a strong relationship

with everybody.

The U.S. is the strongest ally.

It always will be our strongest ally.

I feel it every day at the UN

working with ambassador Haley.

But it's important for us tospeak also with the Russians,

mainly about Syria becausewe know that Iranians,

they want to stay in Syria.

They want to take over Syria.

We think it will be athreat, not only for Israel,

but also for othercountries within the region

and we should not allow theIranians to take over Syria.

Look what happened in Lebanon.

Today, the Iranians control Lebanon.

They are the Hezbollahforces next to our border.

We don't want to have a similar reality

in the border with Syria.

This is the message thatPrime Minister Netanyahu

delivered to Mr. Putin.

- So, a lot of suffering insix and a half years in Syria.

How do we bring about the end of that war?

Is Russia the key?

What's the key to end it?- First, I agree with you.

Look at the pictures of Syria devastation.

We are trying to help people in Syria

and I took a delegation ofambassadors with me to Israel

and we met with three young refugees

and they were shocked to hearthe refugees speaking about

Jews in Israel supportingMuslims in Syria.

So we do whatever we canand we hope that they,

there will be some kindof stability in Syria,

but at the same time, wedon't want the Iranian

to be next to our border.

- Yes, we saw in Daraathe Israelis helping

people who had longconsidered Israel their enemy,

reaching out and helping them,

humanitarian aid workers from Israel.

- We have a special project,it's called Good Neighbor,

where we provide humanitarian support

and tents, medical equipment, food,

and we deliver it directlyto the people who need it

next to our border and yes,they are surprised but you know,

we are all human beings.

We cannot sit idly by whenwe see those pictures.

- The U.S. has enactedlegislation, I think,

back in December calledthe Taylor Force act.

And what that did is itended the pay to slay

U.S. taxpayers support of Palestinians.

In turn, there were thePalestinian authority

giving money to terrorists andthe families of terrorists.

We ended that.

What's the effort likegetting other countries

to follow suit?

- This is very important.

We need to understand it.

When you have a Palestinian authority

which is a kind of a government,

takes funds from thegovernment and pay terrorists

to kill innocent Israelisa monthly salary.

It can be up to $3,000 a month for life.

They're taking international aid support

and use that money to paythe families of terrorists.

I think it was a veryimportant legislation.

In Israel, we have a similar legislation

and we saw Australia joining the U.S.

and hopefully othercountries will do the same.

We encourage people tosupport humanitarian projects

but you should not support the culture

or hate over the Palestinians.

- So far, is it justthe U.S. and Australia

or other countries, westerncountries coming along?

- So now with the U.S. and Australia,

but we hear about someother European countries

considering to divert theirsupport to other places.

- Well, are you optimistic about that or?

- I am, but we have tolisten to the Palestinians.

They say very early,despite all legislations,

we will continue to paysalaries to terrorists,

nevertheless what will be the outcome.

So, they will take fundsfrom other projects,

schools, infrastructure,and they will divert them

into paying salaries for terrorists.

It is a bad messagefor the next generation

of Palestinians growing uptoday in Judan and Somalia.

- You know, when I met you in New York,

earlier this year, you seemedvery like you're an optimist.

You seem very optimistic about the future

and the prospects forpeace in the Middle East

and between Israel and the Palestinians.

Now, with all this Gazasituation going on,

ya know, we saw the rushing of the border

and crossing and infiltrating into Israel

at the time of the Jerusalemembassy dedication,

the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem.

Also, we saw the kites,the arson fires that began

into Israel as a result of Palestinians

sending those kites in.

Now, most recently, the rockets.

So, are you still optimistic?

How do you feel aboutthe prospects for peace?

- You have to be optimistic.

You have to be a believer tosurvive in the United Nations

and I'm optimistic becauselook what we achieved

in short 70 years.

We had wars, we had terror attacks,

but despite all of thoseattacks and hatred,

we built a miracle, abeautiful thriving democracy

in our region, so I thinkwe will continue to do that,

but at the same time, we have to make sure

we have a strong army.

We have to be grateful forour friends in the U.S.

standing with Israel, supporting Israel.

We need that support becauseHamas is not going anywhere.

Hezbollah, they will stay there.

And Iran is still there.

So we will have challenges in the future,

but at the same time, wehave the capability to

face those challenges.

- Now, before you leave, I knowyou're on a tight schedule,

I've gotta ask you about Ireland

because the Irish areconsidering a bill right now

that would ban allproducts from the so-called

settlements in the westbank and then punish anyone,

any company or anyindividual who does business

with Israel with those products.

What are the ramificationsof that legislation

not only for Israel butfor the United States

and our companies?

- I hope it will not pass.

It's not going to help anyone.

You have some countries and your believers

that can force a peace agreement between

the Palestinians and the Israelis.

So, they will force us to give land

or to divide Jerusalem.

It doesn't work that way.

In order to achieve peace, youneed to negotiate directly.

We proved it when we negotiatedwith Egypt and Jordan.

So they cannot impose anything.

Second, they will help the Palestinians

because many Palestinianswork in the Jewish communities

in Judan and Somalia in industrial areas.

So now, where they willactually start to boycott,

they will boycott Palestinian workers.

And third, they will hurtthe people of Ireland

because the U.S. passed legislation

that you are not allowedto boycott any country.

The government can decide who to boycott.

So, those companies would also decide

whether they are boycotting the U.S.

or they're boycotting Israel.

I think they would choosenot to boycott Israel.

- OK, we're out of timeand I know you have to go.

The Israeli ambassadorto the United Nations,

representative for Israel, Danny Danon,

thank you so much

for being with us.- Thank you very much.

- Good to see you again.- Thank you.

- God bless you.- God bless you.