Yair Netanyahu is a podcaster, activist, and political commentator focused on Zionism. Before completing his university studies, he served in the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit. He later earned a degree in international relations from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a degree in political science from the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) in Herzliya, Israel. In 2020, he launched The Yair Netanyahu Show, and he frequently appears on conservative television programmes in both the United States and Israel. He is also the eldest son of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel.
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About the Gaza peace plan and the ceasefire, there were some on stage today at the third International Pro-Israel Summit who described it as a miracle. Some said they are, quote-unquote, ‘unimpressed’ with the deal. Where do you stand on that issue on a scale from unimpressed to miracle?
Well, the peace did not come out of the blue. There is a ceasefire, and that’s because Israel won the war. Israel fought very hard.
This war was imposed on Israel. We didn’t choose it. We were invaded on 7 October and experienced the most horrific massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. We were facing an existential war from Iranian proxies trying to eliminate us from the South through Hamas and from the North through Hezbollah, and through Iran itself by building a nuclear weapon. But we took the threat out of Hamas, out of Lebanon and Hezbollah, and out of Iran with the destruction of Iranian nuclear facilities. So this peace comes with a heavy price so far. You know, we paid the price of more than a thousand soldiers who were killed during this war. As President Trump said: ‘peace through strength’, so what keeps the peace is strength and deterrence—and the bad guys losing the war.
Both Hungary and Israel will be holding elections next year. How does your father feel about his support in Israel right now? Do you have any insight into how he views his chances in next year’s parliamentary election in Israel?
The polls are very good. The people of Israel understand that he was fighting against very powerful forces that wanted to end the war much sooner, right from the beginning, with an Israeli defeat, with Israel’s surrender, without taking out the threats, without dealing with the existential threat from Hezbollah in Lebanon, without dealing with the existential threat with the Iranian nuclear facilities, without getting back all the hostages, and without neutralizing Hamas and Gaza. So the Israeli people see all that. And the polls show that he’s very popular right now and that he’s going to win the elections. You never know what’s going to happen, right? The election is supposed to be in a year from now, so you never know for sure. But things are looking good right now.
There is a little bit of a push on the right in the United States about the level of support the US gives to Israel. What would you say to those people who say ‘America First’ means less support for Israel? I assume you do not agree with that, but what would you say to the people who do?
This is a completely artificial feud because if you look at the polls, the majority of Republicans are very supportive of Israel. So this is a small group. Some of them are being funded by Qatar, which is working on behalf of the Democratic Party, because all they do is help the Democrats get back in power. They are supporting a foreign policy towards Israel which is identical to that of Obama and Biden. And then these people call themselves MAGA, which is ridiculous because they never talk about the billions of dollars going to the Palestinian authority through USAID, they never talk about the billions of dollars going to Pakistan or to Egypt, but they have a problem with the aid going to Israel. When, first of all, it all goes to American manufacturers.
And second of all, Israel is giving back R&D and intelligence worth tens of billions of dollars in return to America. So, you know, if they are supporting isolationism, they need to understand that the consequence of that would be that China will become the number one superpower in the world.
And lastly, you talked about the special relationship between Prime Ministers Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, your father, and Viktor Orbán of Hungary. What does it mean to the people of Israel to have the support of Hungary?
We are very appreciative of the support of Hungary and Prime Minister Orbán. I think we have a really strong bond and friendship between our countries, between my father and Mr Orbán. Hungary has always stood up for us in the European Union, and Israel is always happy to help Hungary with security needs, with weaponry, with diplomacy, with everything we can do to help Hungary. And I can say with confidence that most Israelis are very hopeful that Prime Minister Orbán will win again in the elections next year. I think this will be a very good thing for Hungary as well because he will prevent Hungary from becoming like Western Europe when it comes to illegal Muslim immigration, terrorism, et cetera.
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