Israeli President Shimon Peres has appeared on US talk show The View (believe it or not).
The View had quite a guest of honor this morning — Israeli President Shimon Peres, who is in the United States for a meeting with the president, and decided appear on daytime television while he was in the neighborhood. Why not? Apparently he and Barbara Walters are friends, so that might have had something to do with it. Barbara fielded this interview on her own, perhaps not trusting the other ladies to avoid offending/yelling at the president, or Kathy Ireland not to start talking about a “nation of stoners” again.
Walters had some tough questions for Peres: she asked him about reports that Israel is planning to bomb nuclear sites in Iran, and whether it may do so without U.S. approval (or even advance warning). Peres is 89 years old, and a pretty experienced politician, and he dodged her questions nimbly. He told Walters “the world is in danger if Iran gets a nuclear bomb,” and that Iran has pledged to destroy Israel, while “Israel has never threatened anybody.” As such, “all options are on the table.” Walters interrupted him here to ask if that included bombing Iran without notifying the United States, and Peres, in the middle of a bit of a meandering answer, told her “All options are all options, we don’t have to specify.” He did emphasize that right now Israel’s relationship with the United States and President Obama was strong, and that he “[hoped] that the sanctions will do the job.”
This was rather heavy talk for daytime, so naturally Barbara asked Peres “I understand that you are on Facebook?” Peres laughed and asked the audience “May I ask you to be my friends?” He also said (and some of the meaning may have suffered in translation):
“I want to tell you: today, under the internet, we can make peace among people, not just among governments. You can talk to each other freely…the response is unbelievable. And the nation would be delighted if you’ll answer my invitation to be friends [of] peace, and [friends] of mine.”
Walters was so overcome that she asked Peres for a farewell kiss as the segment ended, and he gave her two enthusiastic smooches on both cheeks
I’m not sure if this indicative of the poor state of Israeli public diplomacy or Peres’ desire to kiss women.
Or both.
Update: The full interview:
