Israel's Treatment of Nusra Fighters and Hezbollah: A Debate

There have been reports that Israel's been treating wounded Syrian rebel fighters in- Yes, yes, yes ... its hospitals on the border, including fighters from Nusra Front- Yes ... uh, which is of course the Al-Qaeda proxy in Syria.

Um, do those reports worry you, that Israel's helping wounded Al-Qaeda-aligned fighters?

As I said before, in a different context, it's always useful also to deal with your enemies in a humane way.

And I think that when you have people who are wounded and you can deal with them in a humane way, the considerations as to whether to take them in are not simply whether it's politically, uh, useful, or whether it's politically contributory.

So it's purely humanitarian, you say. So there's no tactical or political strategic th- I didn't say there's no tactical, I said the main consideration- Fine ... the immediate consideration- Fine ... is humane.

But the tactical issues involved, I mean, you know better than me the phrase blowback. You don't think there's gonna be blowback against Israel if you get into bed with a, a group like Nusra Front?

No, I don't think so. I don't think there's going to be blowback.

Why? Because I think that the, unfortunately, the rules of the game in Syria are such that you can do a- anything that is not able, is not possible to be done anywhere else.

Yeah, I think people said that in Afghanistan too.

Would you also treat Hezbollah fighters?

No. I would not treat- Have you not just contradicted what you told me 60 seconds ago- No, I haven't contradicted, no ... about humanely- No, no ... treating your enemies?

No, no. I think as far as Hezbollah c- uh, uh, fighters are concerned, with them we have a different, uh, account.

So let me be clear, you would, you- We have a different- ... you're happy to treat Al-Qaeda fighters- We have- ... but not Hezbollah fighters.

We have, we have a different account with Hezbollah, a totally different account, because Hezbollah has carried out the type of, uh, actions against us which would preclude us from going into what the Al-Qaeda has done. Al-Qaeda, to the best of my recollection, has up to now not attacked Israel.

But it's attacked your number one ally and protector and sponsee, the United States of America.

Yeah. There is a, quote-unquote, war on terror been going on for 15 years.