Israel Ambassador to UN Danny Danon Talks October 7th Anniversary

SPEAKER_1 (0:02)

Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio, news.

Joe Mathieu (0:07)

Alongside Kailey Leinz, I'm Joe Mathieu. On this October 7th, with tributes taking place and remembrances around the world, we'll bring you a conversation in just a moment with Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, as Kailey mentioned. We're also going to connect with our reporter in Jerusalem who's been talking with us, Dan Williams, for some three years about the fallout, of course, the war in Gaza and the attempts to find peace and rebuild.

We'll start our coverage, though, with some recent remarks we heard from the former Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, who, of course, was serving in that role when this occurred. I sat down with him recently at our world headquarters in New York when he called Complete Fiction, reports that had recently emerged in Israel, a newspaper report that suggested he rebuffed Qatar's offer, an offer from the Prime Minister of Qatar, to broker the release of civilian hostages. He did, however, go on to describe his response on October 7th that drew him immediately to the region. Let's listen.

Anthony Blinken (1:16)

I was in the region almost immediately, a few days after October 7th, not just in Israel, but also in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and UAE and Jordan, Bahrain, all of these places.

When I got to Qatar, my very good partner, colleague, friend, the foreign minister and prime minister, said that there had been outreach from Hamas about talking, about the hostages. That was great news for me, So, I went back to my house, and I was on the phone with my neighbor, and I said, I'm on it, because we had Americans who were being held hostage. And he said, but I'm having trouble getting through to the Israelis to try to figure out how we move forward with the conversation. So, I said, I'm on it. Right after that meeting, I went back on my plane, got on the phone to very senior people in Israel, and said, I've just heard that Hamas I think the hostages are at least ready to talk. There was no offer to free all the hostages or the civilian hostages. If they'd wanted to free the civilian hostages, never mind that they never should have been taken in the first place, they could have done it any time. No, the only offer that was on the table was we're prepared to talk. We needed a channel to do that. I got on the phone with the Israelis and said, you need to designate someone immediately to engage in these conversations, and they did.

Joe Mathieu (2:25)

Yeah, was any hostage release proposal put before you in the first 72 hours? Is that right?

Anthony Blinken (2:31)

No, not that I saw.

Joe Mathieu (2:33)

There's reporting separately by this same group, Harris, that the UAE president warned Benjamin Netanyahu that Hamas was planning this attack days before it happened. Do you believe that I think?

Anthony Blinken (2:44)

Look, I don't know the substance of that. I can tell you we didn't hear that. I can tell you that while people might have said general things about heightened tensions, heightened risks, I'm not aware of anyone saying or any report that we received.

I can't speak to the Israelis that said, this is gonna happen in such and such a place, in such and such a time, by such and such a means. That, I didn't see, but I really can't speak to what the Israelis heard.

Joe Mathieu (3:12)

Will it be the next president who has to solve Gaza?

Anthony Blinken (3:18)

My conviction is this.

When you cut everything away, I think we have to, if we're ever going to solve not just Gaza, but the larger problem, here is the reality.

If you're part of the crowd from the river to the sea, that says you want Israel to go away, guess what? It's not. If you're part of the greater Israel crowd that wants the Palestinians to go away, guess what? They're not. There are seven million Jews, there are seven million Arabs. No one is going anywhere. And until you reconcile that basic reality, you are part of the problem, not the solution. What is the solution? The solution is what it's been, even though no one seems to believe it in anymore. A secure Israel, a sovereign Palestine. We need to see a renewed ground swell of support, not just in those countries, but in the United States for that proposition.

Kailey Leinz (4:15)

So let's extend the conversation now as we consider what comes next. With the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, who is back with us here on Bloomberg TV and radio. Ambassador, thank you for your time and what I'm sure is a somber day for you and so many that you know, as we mark three years since some 1200 Israelis were killed and hundreds were taken hostage.