Back to Ambassadorial Speeches - Ambassador Zalman Shoval

Interview with Ambassador Shoval on CNN March 31, 1992
Interviewer: Reid Collins

REID COLLINS, Anchor: Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy said today that his decision to quit the government is final. This is an action some believe may hurt the ruling Likud Party's chances in general elections in June. Levy announced his resignation on Sunday at first, after Likud had refused to accept Levy supporters as candidates in the election. Here to talk about the possible impact of the decision is Zalman Shoval. He is Israel's ambassador to the United States.

[interviewing] You were a member of the Likud Party, I gather, and a supporter of the Shamir government. What impact will the resignation of Mr. Levy have?

ZALMAN SHOVAL, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S.: Well, this is basically internal politics. And, as the ambassador, I shouldn't comment on internal politics.

COLLINS: No.

AMB. SHOVAL: There will be a certain amount of disarray, I suppose. But at the end of the day, people will make up their minds, I suppose, not in accordance with this or that personality, but with the party program and which do they prefer and which do they not prefer.

COLLINS: How much has this to do -- as some say, quite a bit -- with the Ashkenazi-Sephardi differences, Mr. Levy being Moroccan?

AMB. SHOVAL: I think nothing at all. After all, there are many -- I don't even know where different people come from or where their parents come from. Second and third generations, these differences have disappeared, and there are many people in different camps in the Likud, and of course, in other political parties, of different heritage or prominence or whatever. Some politicians may try to make this into an issue, but I think Israelis are too sophisticated. It won't work.

COLLINS: Some say that Mr. Rabin, now the opposition leader, has a better chance because of it -- and particularly because of his more yielding position in dealing with the Palestinians.

AMB. SHOVAL: Well, this may work both ways. It depends on the views of the voters -- whether they want more leniency, whether they want a harder stance. And this is different to say --

COLLINS: What do you think they do want?

AMBASSADOR SHOVAL: Well, I think most Israelis want peace on the one hand and security and steadfastness on the other. And they will decide which of the parties combines these two things that they -- in the best possible way.

And of course the Shamir government were the people who pushed the peace process, who went to Madrid, promoted the peace process. And people will probably say, 'Okay, these guys have started on the way to peace, but they're going to hold these positions which we think are really vital.' Others will say, 'Well, maybe there's too much emphasis on this or that detail, so let's vote for the other party.' [crosstalk]

COLLINS: -going to Madrid, some point out that for -- that Mr. Levy was left at home. Didn't go to Madrid. The Prime Minister himself went, and that Mr. Netanyahu then became, virtually, the spokesman for the Foreign Ministry -- and he wasn't in the Ministry.

AMB. SHOVAL: Well, at first he was. And then he went -- he moved over to the Prime Minister's office. But you must see the Israeli cabinet as a whole, and not as bathe parts of the whole. And Shamir led the delegation to Madrid, and I think this was an expression of the will, of the determination of the Israeli government as a whole to promote the peace process.

COLLINS: Let's talk of Patriots some moments. Somewhere, in the labyrinths of the Pentagon is a report -- if not finished, being finished -- by more than a dozen United States officials who went to Israel and came back having discovered, if they could, whether Israel did in fact transfer technology dealing with the Patriot to China.

You have said, 'The statement which will have to come out clearing Israel must be very forceful, very clear.'

AMB. SHOVAL: That's what we hope for. I mean, we never had any doubts that we had nothing to do with it. And the truth will come out in the end of the day. We just want the truth to come out in such a fashion that there will be no misunderstanding that we have nothing to do, that these were false allegations.

I'm sure that nobody in the administration here had anything to do with these allegations, but those people who did -- whoever they were, officials, low- level officials, little -- medium-level officials, I don't know -- they should be put to their place. And I think corrective measures should be taken against them, because damage was done, not just to Israel. Damage was done to the United States, as a very close ally of Israel.

And the truth will come out. Israel had nothing to do with that thing. We did not transfer Patriot missiles, technology, whatever, to China. And I know that the people here in command know the truth, and they will make up -- pick us up on that.

COLLINS: If the truth were so self-evident, why have an investigation of such an horrendous charge?

AMB. SHOVAL: We were very glad that the American team came to Israel to lay all these false rumors to rest, finally. We said, 'Everything is open. Please -- we have nothing to hide. Look at it.' And I think we did the right thing. That's the way friends should act.

COLLINS: The United States has suggested we have one more round of peace talks, or discussions at least, here. Then, that they be returned to the region. Will Israel accept this latest deal?

AMB. SHOVAL: Yes. We have proposed the idea all along, to move the peace talks to the region -- near the region. And as Margaret Tutwiler said yesterday, Israel's the only country which has already submitted a list of possible venues after Washington. The Arab foreign ministers and the representatives of the Palestinian terrorists are meeting in Beirut tomorrow to give their reply. And if the reply is in, I hope the round after the next one will already be in the region.

By the way, I hope we will have another round after April the 27th, before the Israeli elections. Israeli elections should not hold up the peace process. We would like to have another round, even before then.

COLLINS: Thank you. I appreciate your time, and your information and expertise. Our guest has been Zalman Shoval. He is the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations. Thank you.

AMB. SHOVAL: Thank you very much.