Speaker 1: Good morning.
Speaker 2: I'm Nathan Hager and I'm Amy Morris. Here are the
Speaker 2: stories we're following today.
Speaker 3: We begin this morning with a political shift of sorts
Speaker 3: in Israel. Protests have raged across the country for months
Speaker 3: after a sweeping proposal to overhaul Israel's judicial system, But
Speaker 3: now Benjamin Natanyahu appears to be softening his stance. That's
Speaker 3: the news he gave us In an exclusive Bloomberg interview,
Speaker 3: Netanyahu says he will not pursue the entire overhaul as
Speaker 3: originally planned.
Speaker 4: I'm still going to give it several months to try
Speaker 4: to get another consensus. What is it. It would probably
Speaker 4: be about the composition of the committee that elects judges.
Speaker 4: I don't think we should move from one extreme where
Speaker 4: we have perhaps the most activist judicial court on the planet,
Speaker 4: to get into a point where the legislature are can
Speaker 4: just knock out any decision that the court makes. There
Speaker 4: has to be a balance. That's what we're trying to restore.
Speaker 3: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Natanyah, who also tells us he
Speaker 3: wants to deepen his country's economic and business times with
Speaker 3: Saudi Arabia. Stay tuned for more of that interview coming
Speaker 3: up shortly on Bloomberg day.
Speaker 5: Break and Nathan.
Speaker 2: Politics is also front and center here in the US,
Speaker 2: as Donald Trump's indictments weigh on the race for president.
Speaker 2: According to a new CBS News you go pull more
Speaker 2: than half of America and say the former president tried
Speaker 2: to stay in office through illegal means. Trump's lawyer John
Speaker 2: Laurel made the rounds on the Sunday political talk shows
Speaker 2: defending the former president. Here he is on ABC's This Week.
Speaker 6: It's up to the government to prove these things. The
Speaker 6: defense has no obligation to prove anything. We put the
Speaker 6: government to its test. The government must prove beyond a
Speaker 6: reasonable doubt that President Trump had criminal intent.
Speaker 2: Trump lawyer John Laurel was a guest on nearly all
Speaker 2: of the Sunday shows, which you can hear every week
Speaker 2: right here on Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 3: Well back on Wall Street Amy. Economic data are and
Speaker 3: focus again this week. The latest reading on consumer prices
Speaker 3: comes out Thursday that could help the Federal Reserve to
Speaker 3: sign its next move right now. FED Governor Michelle Bowman
Speaker 3: says more rate hikes may be needed, while Atlanta Fed
Speaker 3: President Rafael Bostik says the Central Bank may be done.
Speaker 3: At the same time, Bostic seas policy staying tighter for longer.
Speaker 3: I'm not expecting this to be a two month or
Speaker 3: three month period.
Speaker 7: My outlook is that we'll still be in a restrictive territory.
Speaker 4: Well.
Speaker 3: In the twenty twenty four Atlanta Fed chief Rafael Bostik
Speaker 3: made those comments on a special edition of Bloomberg's Wall
Speaker 3: Street Week. Subscribe or download the show wherever you get
Speaker 3: your podcasts.
Speaker 2: And we have earnings to tell you about this morning.
Speaker 2: Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway beat results in its latest report
Speaker 2: Bloomberg's Denise Palegreenei as it tales.
Speaker 5: Billionaire Warren Buffett's conglomerate is reporting second quarter operating profit
Speaker 5: that beat the average analyst estimate, thanks in part to
Speaker 5: strength and insurance units and also its acquisition of Alleghany.
Speaker 5: But Berkshire had to raise prices and cut advertising at
Speaker 5: Geico to make those numbers, and that could already be backfiring.
Speaker 5: Over the last twelve months, policies enforce fell by two
Speaker 5: point seven millions, suggesting a loss of market share. Denise
Speaker 5: Pellegrini Bloomberg Day Break.
Speaker 3: Okay, Denise, thank you, and it's going to be another
Speaker 3: busy week for earnings, with results from nearly three dozen
Speaker 3: companies in the S and P five hundred expected. Bloomberg's
Speaker 3: Charlie Pellett joins us with that.
Speaker 1: We've heard from roughly eighty percent of S and P
Speaker 1: five hundred companies, but there will be plenty more to
Speaker 1: come this week. Amid questions about current market valuations given
Speaker 1: the prospects for corporate earnings, Nattie lovell Is, senior US
Speaker 1: equity STRATEGISTICT ubs financial services.
Speaker 8: Well looking for sort of mid single digit growth over
Speaker 8: the next twelve months, so we think that this market
Speaker 8: is probably cap as a result of the earn is outlook.
Speaker 1: Among this week's most closely watched reports will be Walt
Speaker 1: Disney Ups, Lily Take two Entertainment, and Rivian Automotive in
Speaker 1: New York. Charlie Palette, Bloomberg Daybreak.
Speaker 5: Thank you, Charlie.
Speaker 2: Elsewhere in corporate news, trucking firm Yellow has officially filed
Speaker 2: for bankruptcy following years of financial woes for Yellow that
Speaker 2: were compounded by a labor force dispute. The shutdown leaves
Speaker 2: roughly thirty thousand employees jobless. It comes on the heels
Speaker 2: of accountroversial seven hundred million dollar pandemic relief loan that
Speaker 2: Yeller received three years ago. Congressional investigators concluded last year
Speaker 2: that the company was ineligible.
Speaker 7: For the loan.
Speaker 3: Overseas, Amy, it looks like Credit Sweez is making cuts
Speaker 3: in Asia. That's according to Reuters, which says the firm
Speaker 3: is laying off about eighty percent of its Hong Kong
Speaker 3: based investment banking staff. Hong Kong accounts for the biggest
Speaker 3: share of investment bankers in Asia for Credit Swise.
Speaker 2: Although Big Tech has already reported earnings for this quarter,
Speaker 2: we still have some news out of Silicon Valley, Elon
Speaker 2: Musk resurrecting the idea of a cage fight with Mark
Speaker 2: Zuckerberg and promising to stream it live. Bloomberg's Ed Baxter
Speaker 2: with those details.
Speaker 9: As the business competition grows with metas threads and Musk's X.
Speaker 9: Musk has posted that the fight will be streamed on X.
Speaker 9: So the question, which seem to be is Musk just
Speaker 9: social media trolling? Aganner as he heard more from Zuckerberg,
Speaker 9: who had earlier responded for us to let him know
Speaker 9: where and when Zuckerberg is a martial arts enthusiast whose
Speaker 9: participate paid this year and competition, and Musk says he
Speaker 9: has been lifting weights throughout the day in preparation. In
Speaker 9: San Francisco. I'm at Baxter Bloomberg Daybreak.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Ed, and we are learning this morning that
Speaker 2: the timing of the alleged fight may be in flux.
Speaker 2: That's according to Elon Musk, who says he's getting an
Speaker 2: MRI on his neck and upper back and may need
Speaker 2: surgery before the fight can happen. And hot temperatures across
Speaker 2: the US were back and focused over the weekend. Triple
Speaker 2: digit temperatures in Texas, but pressure on the power grid
Speaker 2: causing prices to jump more than eight hundred percent. Households
Speaker 2: and businesses in the state used a record amount of electricity,
Speaker 2: but the grid held up throughout the weekend. This is
Speaker 2: Bloomberg and time now for a look at some of
Speaker 2: the other stories making news around the world. For that,
Speaker 2: we're joined by Bloomberg's Michael bar Good morning.
Speaker 10: Michael, Good morning. Amy. Russia launched more than seventy missiles
Speaker 10: and drones at Ukraine in one of its biggest assaults
Speaker 10: in recent weeks. An escalation of force after two Russian
Speaker 10: ships were hit and damaged by drones in the Black Sea.
Speaker 10: Fi their Oleg Miroslav of the Transfiguration Cathedral, an Orthodox
Speaker 10: cathedral ravaged by a Russian missile last month, was asked
Speaker 10: about Russian President Vladimir Putin. Miroslav, speaking to a reporter
Speaker 10: through a translator.
Speaker 5: Can Vladimir Putin be called a true Christian.
Speaker 4: One?
Speaker 1: Of course not.
Speaker 3: I don't even have to think about it, because Christians
Speaker 3: don't kill others.
Speaker 5: They help each other.
Speaker 4: Ristiana Pamaga.
Speaker 5: Should Vladimir Putin be forgiven?
Speaker 1: And a voi show every person deserves to be forgiven,
Speaker 1: but the most important judgment comes from God.
Speaker 10: Meanwhile, the footprint of President Vladimir Putin's war or Ukraine
Speaker 10: is growing fast after a weekend in which sea drones
Speaker 10: crippled a Russian naval vessel and oil tanker. The attacks
Speaker 10: put at risk Russia's commodity exports via the Black Sea,
Speaker 10: a route that accounts for most of the grain and
Speaker 10: fifteen to twenty percent of the oil that rushes sales
Speaker 10: daily on global markets. Significantly higher insurance and shipping costs
Speaker 10: are likely to follow from Moscow. A fire fighting tragedy
Speaker 10: in California. An emotional briefing overnight, cow Fire official David
Speaker 10: Fulcher confirming that there were multiple depths. When two choppers
Speaker 10: collided Sunday as the crew members battled a brush fire
Speaker 10: in Riverside County.
Speaker 11: The first helicopter was able to land safely nearby. Unfortunately,
Speaker 11: the second helicopter crashed and tragically all three members perished,
Speaker 11: which included one CalFire Division Chief, one cal Fire Captain
Speaker 11: and one contract pilot.
Speaker 10: Cawfire's David Fulcher. In Portugal, Pope frances Is wrapping up
Speaker 10: his five day trip there. The Pope was greeted by
Speaker 10: massive crowds, including the biggest one yesterday for World Youth
Speaker 10: Day in Lisbon. Roughly eight hundred thousand young Catholics gathered
Speaker 10: see Pope Francis at the one every three year festival.
Speaker 10: Global News twenty four hours a day, powered by more
Speaker 10: than twenty seven hundred journalist and analysts in over one
Speaker 10: hundred and twenty countries. How michaelbar this is Bloomberg Gaming.
Speaker 2: All right, Thank you, Michael, Tom now for our Bloomberg
Speaker 2: Sports update. For that, we bring in John's dash hour.
Speaker 7: Any by far the worst Women's World Cup for the
Speaker 7: United States barely made it out of group play and
Speaker 7: then its earliest exit ever, failing to even reach the quarterfinals.
Speaker 7: The US lost to swedeen scoreless. Played for two hours,
Speaker 7: the US had a three two lead and the penalty
Speaker 7: kicks and then lost five to four. Meghan Rappino missed hurt.
Speaker 12: Oh, we played really well. I'm so happy for us
Speaker 12: that we went out like that, playing the way that
Speaker 12: we did, and you know, having a ton of joining
Speaker 12: the ball. I mean, this is like a sick joke
Speaker 12: for me personally. I'm just like, this is dark comedy.
Speaker 5: I missed a.
Speaker 7: Penalty pinot on Fox Sports after the game. She had
Speaker 7: not missed a PK playing for her country since two
Speaker 7: thousand eighteen. It was her final match playing for the
Speaker 7: US scene with Julie ERTs. Meanwhile, Leonel Messi two more goals.
Speaker 7: He has scored seven in his first four games playing
Speaker 7: for Miami and MLS. They trailed four to two and
Speaker 7: rallied to beat Dallas in penalty kicks. Windham Golf in Greensboro,
Speaker 7: Lucas Glover twenty under part one by two at the
Speaker 7: live event in West Virginia. Bryson Deshamba, who had a
Speaker 7: sixty one on Saturday, came back with a round of
Speaker 7: fifty eight that would have tied the PGA record. Jim
Speaker 7: Furick had a fifty eight back in twenty sixteen baseball,
Speaker 7: the Oriel seventieth win of the season. They shout out
Speaker 7: the Mets to nothing and the Nationals won sixty three
Speaker 7: at Cincinnati. The Red Sox swept at home by Toronto
Speaker 7: Blue Jays won thirteen to one Battle of the Bay.
Speaker 7: The Ages beat the Giants eight to six. John Stansh
Speaker 7: Edward Bloomberg sports.
Speaker 4: From coast to coast, from New York to San Francisco,
Speaker 4: Boston to Washington, DC.
Speaker 10: Nationwide on Syrias XAM, the Bloomberg Business app in Bloomberg.
Speaker 4: This is Bloomberg Daybreak. Good morning.
Speaker 3: I'm Nathan Hager. For month's protests have gripped Israel. The
Speaker 3: demonstrations have been targeted at a controversial judicial overhaul imposed
Speaker 3: by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahoo. He says israel system allows
Speaker 3: judges to play too big a role in government, and
Speaker 3: he's outlined plans to change how judges are selected. That
Speaker 3: did spark the largest anti government protest movement in Israel's history.
Speaker 3: Now in an exclusive interview with Bloomberg News, Prime Minister
Speaker 3: Benjamin Netanyaho appears to be softening his stance. He sat
Speaker 3: down for that wide ranging conversation with Bloomberg's Francine Loqua,
Speaker 3: saying he now will not pursue the entire judicial overhaul.
Speaker 3: Let's listen into that conversation.
Speaker 4: Now. Well, I think that we've already done quite a bit.
Speaker 4: I have stopped the judicial legislation for three months, seeking
Speaker 4: consissants from the other side, unfortunately not getting it, then
Speaker 4: brought in a relatively minor part of the reform past it,
Speaker 4: and then said I'm still going to give it several
Speaker 4: months to try to get another consensus. What is it?
Speaker 4: It would probably be about the composition of the committee
Speaker 4: that elects judges.
Speaker 8: With the selection of the judges, how they're selected.
Speaker 4: Right, That's basically what's left. And because other things I
Speaker 4: think we should not legislate. I don't think we should
Speaker 4: move from one extreme where we have perhaps the most
Speaker 4: activist judicial court on the planet, to get into a
Speaker 4: point where the legislature arencit can just knock out any
Speaker 4: decision that the court makes. There has to be a balance.
Speaker 8: That's what we're trying to restore supremis. When you look
Speaker 8: at the change in selection for the judges, how quickly
Speaker 8: could that come?
Speaker 4: Well, if we get a compromise, it could come immediately.
Speaker 4: If we can't get a buy in from the opposition
Speaker 4: in the parliament, there's always a buy in from the public.
Speaker 4: What is the thing that the public accepts? And I'm
Speaker 4: giving it my best shot. I'm spending I wouldn't say
Speaker 4: twenty four hours a day on it, about twelve hours
Speaker 4: a day.
Speaker 8: And if the public is not behind it, what do
Speaker 8: you do?
Speaker 4: I think you should choose something. I think you should
Speaker 4: choose something that has broad acceptance, which looks like one
Speaker 4: which looks like something that I'd like to negotiate, not
Speaker 4: on not even on Bloomberg.
Speaker 8: Okay, but give me a flavor of is it walking
Speaker 8: back some of some of the things that have been
Speaker 8: said by certain ministers around you?
Speaker 4: Oh, ministers can say anything. I don't control words in
Speaker 4: our parliamentary system. I control deeds and that has to
Speaker 4: be understood. But since you know the European system, you
Speaker 4: know that unlike a presidential system, you don't control the
Speaker 4: you know what is said by members of.
Speaker 8: Your cabinet, but you can ask them tone it down.
Speaker 8: Have you asked them to tone it down.
Speaker 4: One hundred times and they're listening. I succeeded fifty times.
Speaker 4: Don't You can always succeed. You don't always succeed. But
Speaker 4: that's what's important to understand, is what is when the
Speaker 4: dust settles? Are we going to have Israel that is more,
Speaker 4: is stronger democratically or is it weaker democratically? Is it
Speaker 4: something where you're going to have the balance that you
Speaker 4: need between the will of the majority and the rights
Speaker 4: of the minority or individual rights. Has that been strengthened,
Speaker 4: that balance or has it been weakened. I maintained it'll
Speaker 4: be strengthened. It certainly will not be right premise.
Speaker 8: So there are a lot of questions, especially from investors,
Speaker 8: especially from businesses, because you always need a body that
Speaker 8: makes sure that anything that the government passes is legal,
Speaker 8: and there's maybe a perception problem. But this is weakened.
Speaker 8: So what is the message to business investors and to
Speaker 8: markets right now?
Speaker 4: I don't think it's weakened. I think the ultimate actually
Speaker 4: I think the ultimate regulator of the democracies are not courts,
Speaker 4: but are the public choice. I think that's a fundamental
Speaker 4: misconception of how democracy's work.
Speaker 8: We always need someone to overlook them.
Speaker 4: But if you have a lowser government, then they're not
Speaker 4: re elected. That's the most important thing. The most important
Speaker 4: regulator is the political markets. But I don't think that
Speaker 4: we should in any way weaken the courts. There's a
Speaker 4: difference between between an independent court and an all powerful court,
Speaker 4: and I think what we're trying to do is bring
Speaker 4: back to Israel where it was in its first fifty years,
Speaker 4: where there was an adequate balance between the courts, the
Speaker 4: legislature and the executive Prime Minister.
Speaker 8: There's a perception problem, maybe, if that's what you think,
Speaker 8: But there's certainly a division in this country, with hundreds
Speaker 8: of thousands of people protesting and market participants worried about
Speaker 8: what happens next. What's your message to them?
Speaker 4: When the dust set Israel will not only will remain
Speaker 4: a democracy, it will be even a stronger democracy. But
Speaker 4: more importantly, it will not in any way impair the
Speaker 4: enormous business and economic capabilities of Israel in the new
Speaker 4: technological age.
Speaker 8: But Premister, when does this dust settle? So far, you
Speaker 8: haven't even been prepared to say that you will follow
Speaker 8: what the Supreme Court decides.
Speaker 4: Now, we follow what the Supreme Court decides on. The
Speaker 4: Supreme Court so far has also followed the basic rule
Speaker 4: of not striking down basic laws, which they themselves dean
Speaker 4: are the basis of the Constitution. Both things have to
Speaker 4: be maintained.
Speaker 8: So what would you tell markets and investors today that
Speaker 8: whatever they decide right there's something big that's going to
Speaker 8: be decided in the next couple of months, you will
Speaker 8: abide by that.
Speaker 4: I hope that we don't get into a constitutional crisis.
Speaker 4: I think we won't. I think there's a way of
Speaker 4: reaching an equitable compromise, which is what I'm trying to do. Now.
Speaker 4: If I reveal to you everything that I'm trying to do,
Speaker 4: I won't be able to do it.
Speaker 8: But the market wants to understand that there's nothing worse
Speaker 8: for the markets for investors to actually be in the
Speaker 8: Limbu where you're not sure exactly what will happen or
Speaker 8: how the government will react.
Speaker 4: I'm absolutely sure that Israel will come out stable and
Speaker 4: successful and democratic, at least as democratic it my view,
Speaker 4: more democratic. I don't think we're going to tear the
Speaker 4: country apart. I don't think you're going to have civil war.
Speaker 4: I think right now what you're seeing is the natural
Speaker 4: conflict between opposing views that have not yet meshed, but
Speaker 4: they will mesh.
Speaker 8: Do you support your central bank governor, who is very
Speaker 8: well respected internationally?
Speaker 4: Sure, I appointed him.
Speaker 8: Will you back him for another term? He has to decide,
Speaker 8: I think by next month.
Speaker 4: Well, I haven't talked to him yet, but I will,
Speaker 4: but I've guarded I would say rigorously his independence and
Speaker 4: the independence of the Central Bank, and that will continue
Speaker 4: to be the policy. I will talk to him, but
Speaker 4: you wouldn't believe this, but he just not had the
Speaker 4: opportunity to discuss that.
Speaker 8: But when you talk to him, will you ask him
Speaker 8: to stay on?
Speaker 4: Possibly? I want to think about right now. I think
Speaker 4: he's been an exceptional Central Bank director, and I think
Speaker 4: that's a possibility that I'll have to talk to him
Speaker 4: about one.
Speaker 8: Of your ministers I think called him a savage for
Speaker 8: raising interest rates.
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, my ministers in our hectic parliamentary system could
Speaker 4: say anything, but it's a fact that we've never intervened
Speaker 4: with the independence of the Central Bank and we won't.
Speaker 4: In fact, I think I passed some laws or corrective
Speaker 4: additional laws that safeguarded the independence of the Central Bank.
Speaker 4: I do not want the government broaching in on what
Speaker 4: the central bank has to do.
Speaker 8: So do you support the interest rate hikes?
Speaker 4: I'd leave that decision to the central Bank. You know,
Speaker 4: I've had several central Bank directors because I've been in
Speaker 4: government a long time. I think in a few months
Speaker 4: I'll be probably more time in as Prime Minister than
Speaker 4: anybody in the western world for the last half century.
Speaker 4: So I've had a lot of central bank directors to
Speaker 4: talk to. I always talk to them in a padded room,
Speaker 4: absolutely sound proof that we could hurled at each other
Speaker 4: whatever we want. But when I come out, I always
Speaker 4: give backing to the central back to it.
Speaker 8: But Prime Minister, it would be pretty powerful or a
Speaker 8: pretty powerful message to the markets, given the divisions and
Speaker 8: given the turmoil, if you were to ask to stay.
Speaker 4: On, could be that's a consideration. I'll consider it.
Speaker 8: But do you agree would that be a powerful message?
Speaker 4: I think the powerful message is the independence of the
Speaker 4: Central Bank, and I think the choices that I've made
Speaker 4: in bringing in central bank directors, whether it was Stanley
Speaker 4: Fisher and after him the current Central Bank director, I
Speaker 4: think people see that we choose and choose well, and
Speaker 4: that will not and some others in between.
Speaker 8: I don't want it, and that will not change.
Speaker 4: No, it will.
Speaker 8: You're overhauling the juiciary, but the central bank won't be.
Speaker 4: I'm not overhauling the judiciary. I'm correcting the judiciary to
Speaker 4: where it was. I don't think we'll get there, but
Speaker 4: to where it was at Israel's first fifty years before
Speaker 4: the judicial imbalance was created, and I'm trying to bring
Speaker 4: it back modestly into line. This is described as the
Speaker 4: end of democracy. Why why is it described as the
Speaker 4: end of democracy? Because we say that the judiciary in Israel,
Speaker 4: and in Israel alone, cannot say I'm striking down a
Speaker 4: government decision or a parliamentary law simply because I think
Speaker 4: it's unreasonable. That doesn't exist to that extent.
Speaker 8: No, but it's a check in balance. And this is
Speaker 8: what again, this is what investors are worried about, many
Speaker 8: of checks kind of So I was going to ask you,
Speaker 8: what's your message today for a business that wants to
Speaker 8: come here that's a little bit nervous about what they
Speaker 8: can do longer term?
Speaker 4: There is no absence of checks in Israel. The courts
Speaker 4: have all the checks, but they have no balance. So
Speaker 4: if you're concerned that the court will not be able
Speaker 4: to intervene in certain decisions, they've got one hundred different
Speaker 4: checks on that. But one thing that we want to
Speaker 4: have is not to be able to have the court
Speaker 4: intervene on anything, on any matter without any reference to
Speaker 4: any statute or any law. That is not democracy.
Speaker 8: It's my understanding. They've only done that a handful of times.
Speaker 8: But if you're an investor today, right, and you look
Speaker 8: at Israel that has to deal with Saudi, that has
Speaker 8: to deal with Iran, why are you falling on the
Speaker 8: sword about the judiciary.
Speaker 4: Well, I'm not falling on the sword. I'm trying to
Speaker 4: correct it imbalance because people, because millions of Israelis vote
Speaker 4: timing again for governments who want to have certain government policies, okay,
Speaker 4: And the governments are elected and they want to enact
Speaker 4: their policies, and the Supreme Court often intervenes in ways
Speaker 4: that nullifies the will of the majority without any reference
Speaker 4: to a law. For example, I'll give you an example,
Speaker 4: we have foreign workers. Israel has been able to prevent
Speaker 4: the entry of.
Speaker 8: Arms, and premiers were fully aware. But were you upset
Speaker 8: by hundreds of thousands of people in the streets.
Speaker 4: Well, there have been hundreds of thousands of the others.
Speaker 4: That's a reflection of democracy nobody describes. Nobody describes the
Speaker 4: other side. We had a quarter of a million people
Speaker 4: in the street the other day supporting the judicial reform.
Speaker 4: You didn't hear a word.
Speaker 8: But prem Minister, you were the one that brought people together, right,
Speaker 8: that build bridges.
Speaker 4: What's happened, Well, because a it didn't happen overnight. When
Speaker 4: I did the economic refirms that made Israel an economic juggernaut,
Speaker 4: a free market economy, technological economy, I had huge demonstrations.
Speaker 4: I had a five months national strike, three months and
Speaker 4: two months from the labor union I had when I
Speaker 4: tried to take the gas out of the seabed. I
Speaker 4: have the same people are organizing the strikes now saying
Speaker 4: this is the end of democracy, this will destroy our environment.
Speaker 4: Mind you taking substituting gas for coal, destroying the run.
Speaker 4: But it's the same thing now they're saying we're destroying
Speaker 4: the democracy. That's nonsense. But I understand it's nonsense in
Speaker 4: my view, it's not nonsense in their view. They're generally
Speaker 4: concerned and I think there's a happy middle ground there.
Speaker 4: I've always found it in other matters, whether it was
Speaker 4: in defense or Iran, or free market economies or taking
Speaker 4: gas out of the seabed. I'll find it here as well.
Speaker 8: Again, there's so much nervousness right out there. When you
Speaker 8: speak to investors and you speak to the markets, give
Speaker 8: me a sense of what you would be able to
Speaker 8: do or to give to normalize relationship with Saudi Arabia.
Speaker 4: Well, Saury Arabia, I think is one of the exceptional
Speaker 4: things that tells you why I'm very optimistic about Israel
Speaker 4: really one of two reasons, one of two main reasons.
Speaker 4: One is that, well, it's start with Saudi Arabia, but
Speaker 4: then I'll get with the other one. I think that
Speaker 4: we're about to witness a pivot of history. Maybe I
Speaker 4: can't guarantee you that it'll happen, but first, there's an
Speaker 4: economic corridor of energy, transport and communications that naturally goes
Speaker 4: through our geography from the Arabian Peninsula, from Asia to
Speaker 4: the Arabian Peninsula to Europe. We're going to realize that.
Speaker 4: And by the way, my sense is we're going to
Speaker 4: realize that despite whether we have formal peace or not?
Speaker 8: But do you have to give consents? So we understand
Speaker 8: Saudi Arabia, But what would you what would you give?
Speaker 8: Would you would you limit, for example, Jewish settlements in
Speaker 8: the West Bank.
Speaker 4: Again, you have a good pension as a good journalist
Speaker 4: to try to eke out for me the my negotiation stance,
Speaker 4: and of course you're not going to succeed, but you
Speaker 4: could keep on trying. But do I think it's feasible
Speaker 4: to have that? And what do I think that political
Speaker 4: questions will block it? I doubt it. If there's political will,
Speaker 4: there will be a political way to achieve normalization and
Speaker 4: a formal peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia that has
Speaker 4: enormous economic consequences for your investors. And if they have
Speaker 4: to bet on it right now, I bet on it,
Speaker 4: but I can't guarantee it.
Speaker 8: And primary this is why I'm not trying to ink
Speaker 8: out negotiations. I'm trying to understand what you're willing to
Speaker 8: give because this is such an important partnership.
Speaker 4: I'll tell you what I'm not willing to give. I'm
Speaker 4: not willing to give anything that will endanger israel security.
Speaker 4: That I will not do. But I think there's enough
Speaker 4: room to discuss possibilities. I don't think I think the
Speaker 4: Palestinian thing is brought in all the time. It was
Speaker 4: always brought in, and it's sort of a checkbox, you know,
Speaker 4: you have to check it to say that you're doing it.
Speaker 4: Is that what is being said in corridors? Is that
Speaker 4: what is being said in discrete negotiations? Now you tell
Speaker 4: me the answer is a lot less than you think.
Speaker 8: Okay, So if you look at, for example, giving the
Speaker 8: Palestinians their own state, is that something that you would
Speaker 8: is that a red line?
Speaker 4: It won't be their own state. It will be an
Speaker 4: Iranian controlled state that will in an area that is
Speaker 4: about the width of the Washington Beltway. You take Israel
Speaker 4: and the Palestinian areas in Judas, Amaria, the West Bank together,
Speaker 4: it's a little more than the width of the Washington Beltway.
Speaker 4: You put a Palestinian state which will be controlled by
Speaker 4: Iran in half of that, or a in the middle
Speaker 4: of that. You won't have a Palestinian state, You'll have
Speaker 4: an Iranian terrs state.
Speaker 8: And of course, so under no circumstances would you love that.
Speaker 4: Now, what I said often is that the way that
Speaker 4: I would have a solution is two things about that.
Speaker 4: One that the Palestinians should have all the powers to
Speaker 4: govern themselves and none of the powers to threaten Israel.
Speaker 4: This means that in whatever final settlement, peace settlement we
Speaker 4: have with the Palestinians, Israel remains the over I would
Speaker 4: say Israel has the overriding security power in the entire
Speaker 4: area ours and theirs. Otherwise we collapse, they collapse.
Speaker 8: You're going to Unga in New York. I believe the
Speaker 8: second week or third week of September. Will you meet
Speaker 8: with Donald Trump?
Speaker 4: I don't know the first. You're the first, You're the
Speaker 4: first who suggested it. No, I haven't.
Speaker 8: Are you expecting an invitation to the White House from
Speaker 8: President Biden?
Speaker 4: Well, he said that we are good to be, so
Speaker 4: I'll leave it up to him.
Speaker 8: What are you most excited for going to.
Speaker 4: Aunga, Well, I've been there many years here. What am
Speaker 4: I most excited about the possibility of broadening the already
Speaker 4: historic Abraham Accords. I think this will be this will
Speaker 4: change history. I think it will not only end the
Speaker 4: Arab Israeli conflict, not the Palestinian Israeli conflict, but our
Speaker 4: conflict with ninety eight percent of the Arab world. It
Speaker 4: will also, I think, create a new piece between the
Speaker 4: Jewish state and the Muslim world.
Speaker 8: Prime Minister, the countries of the Abraham Accords, some of
Speaker 8: them have been frustrated, right about some of the noise
Speaker 8: that's been coming out of your government. Will you meet
Speaker 8: with them to try and reassure them.
Speaker 4: Well, we meet with them all the time, and we
Speaker 4: reassure them all the time. But I think I think
Speaker 4: some of them are habituated to the fact that noise
Speaker 4: is noise, and I think that's true of the market's too.
Speaker 4: There's a lot of noise in the market. But if
Speaker 4: you look at the fundamentals of issuel, if you look
Speaker 4: at the growth rate which is double the United States expected.
Speaker 4: Now you look at the deficit which is one point
Speaker 4: five at most percent compared to five point five percent
Speaker 4: in the US. If you look at the debt to
Speaker 4: GDP which is sixty percent, which is less than one
Speaker 4: hundred percent in the US, and you know what it's
Speaker 4: like in the EU. And if you look at if
Speaker 4: you look at the investments, I mean in Nvidio builds here,
Speaker 4: the supercomputer. Intel just puts twenty five billion dollars.
Speaker 8: For a reach plastics longer term.
Speaker 4: But that's my point that there's noise in the short
Speaker 4: term markets, there's clarity in the long term markets. I mean,
Speaker 4: now Amazon just invests seven billion in cloud services here,
Speaker 4: Why are they doing that? Because they know something I'm
Speaker 4: going to do and the thing that I'm going to do,
Speaker 4: and I like to bring it to your investors attention.
Speaker 4: A few years ago, ten years ago, I decided that
Speaker 4: Israel would be one of the ten cyber powers in
Speaker 4: the world, one of the five. We've become one of
Speaker 4: the more than five higher than that. Now. I think
Speaker 4: that what we're going to do is and what I'm
Speaker 4: organizing is government, a government policy, and a government board
Speaker 4: with money to make Israel one of the three top
Speaker 4: ai powers in the world.
Speaker 8: What do you say to investors that worry that you've
Speaker 8: changed in terms of priorities?
Speaker 4: Haven't? My priorities are peace, prosperity, and security. I think
Speaker 4: that they're all dependent on prosperity to have the ability
Speaker 4: to fund the defense needs that we have and to
Speaker 4: expand the peace. The prosperity is based on Israel's supreme
Speaker 4: technological prowess. We are you know, people rated a seventh
Speaker 4: on the AI on the AI list, you know why
Speaker 4: because of the absence of government policy. I'm changing that
Speaker 4: and I'm going to announce in about six weeks the
Speaker 4: government policy, the organization, the project leader for a host
Speaker 4: of civilian and military AI that will thrust Israel right
Speaker 4: up there. If you're an investor and you're not seeing
Speaker 4: that the added value that is going to accrue to
Speaker 4: national economies is based on their ability to generate AI
Speaker 4: and users, I use This is not hype. This is Israel,
Speaker 4: and we have done.
Speaker 8: Worried about the shorter term. But thank you so much
Speaker 8: for your time.
Speaker 4: Oh bust, but remember this, here's a good one. This
Speaker 4: is recorded today. All right, now we should look at
Speaker 4: one year from now. That's pretty short term and we'll see.
Speaker 4: Was I right in telling you that Israel right now
Speaker 4: is undervalued? You should invest in Israel. Smart money is
Speaker 4: coming into his will now like these big firms, because
Speaker 4: they understand that we're going to a good place.
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