Israeli Ambassador to the USA on the Israel-Hezbollah conflict and the repatriation of hostages

WASHINGTON (CBS, KYMA/KECY) – Michael Herzog, Israeli ambassador to the United States, spoke with Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation on Sunday.

Hezbollah fired hundreds of rockets and drones at Israel over the weekend, while the Israeli military said it had struck Lebanon with around 100 jets to thwart a larger attack, in one of the heaviest clashes in the more than 10-month-long border war.

“So what happened was that we discovered concrete plans and preparations by Hezbollah for a massive rocket and drone attack on Israel. And we carried out the operation in real time to weaken the attack capabilities that were to be fired at Israel. We were successful. Nevertheless, they fired several hundred rockets at Israel and also drones aimed at central Israel. And we intercepted them all. One of our soldiers was killed by the debris of the Israeli interceptors.”

Michael Herzog, Israeli Ambassador to the USA

When asked whether this was an escalation towards a “regional war” or whether we were “taking a step back”, Herzog said:

“I believe that the success of our operation … prevented an escalation to a major war. That threat still exists. We still need an agreement with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. They followed Hamas and started a war against Israel on October 8. Since then, they have fired thousands of rockets at Israel. We are giving diplomacy a chance and hope it works. But if not, we have almost 70,000 people in Israel, in the north of Israel, who have fled their homes, refugees in their own country, and we need to make sure they can return to their homes safely.”

During the interview, Brennan and Herzog discussed the dynamics of the hostage release.

“We have an Israeli delegation in Cairo, along with all the mediators and a Hamas representative, and we hope to make progress. As Secretary of State Blinken said a few days ago, the United States has put forward a bridge proposal that was accepted by Israel, and now it is up to Hamas to say whether they accept it or not. So they have sent their representative. We are not 100 percent sure yet that they will play along. We certainly hope so. And if they do, we can make progress toward the agreement.”

Michael Herzog, Israeli Ambassador to the USA

Click here to watch more of Brennan’s interview with Herzog.