AMY GOODMAN: Israel's ambassador to the United States, Daniel Ayalon, was being interviewed at the studios of FOX News in Washington, D.C. After the interview, he was questioned outside the studio as part of a press stakeout. Among the reporters there was Sam Husseini. He’s communications director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. He talked to the Israeli ambassador, but he's joining us in the studio in Washington, D.C. to describe just what that stakeout is, before we go to the questioning. Sam Husseini, welcome to Democracy Now!

SAM HUSSEINI: Good to be with you.

AMY GOODMAN: Why don't you lay out what these stakeouts are around Washington, D.C. on Sunday mornings.

SAM HUSSEINI: Well, all of these Sunday talk shows -- Meet the Press, Face the Nation, This Week With George Stephanopoulos, Wolf Blitzer’s Late Edition, as well as FOX News’s program -- these people, these policymakers, in many cases these war-makers, go in there, get questioned by the Tim Russerts and George Stephanopouloses and Chris Wallaces, and so on.

And then, there are these stakeouts. The media, other media, stand outside the studios waiting to ask them questions. And just more generally, whether or not the media are there or not, these people physically have to get into and out of the buildings oftentimes. Sometimes they have a satellite feed. But they physically have to get in and out. And it's an opportunity for questions and a time to really scrutinize them.

And that's what happened Sunday. You got to get up bright and early Sunday morning. And then sometimes you've got to wait around for quite a while for something to happen. But that's the scene. It was myself, and there were two reporters, one reporter from CNN and one reporter from NBC, and another reporter who I don't know what affiliation he had.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, Sam Husseini, you began questioning the Israeli ambassador to the United States, Daniel Ayalon, about the report released by Human Rights Watch that accused Israel of committing war crimes for targeting civilians in Lebanon. This was his response.

DANIEL AYALON: I would say this report that you quoted is just something out of this earth. I mean, I don't know where they live.

SAM HUSSEINI: They have people in Lebanon.

DANIEL AYALON: I don't know who they have. We are also -- we are also in Lebanon. And if you see the differences, you see that the Hezbollah targets civilians and only civilians. They use this indiscriminate Katyusha rockets, which have been converted, their warheads has been converted into a terror weapon with all these ball- bearings just to kill civilians. Now, they use it from apartments. They use it from mosques and from school yards. On the other hand, we are using only precision munitions, even at the compromise of achieving our mission fast. Many of our soldiers get killed, because we are being very careful. So this report -- I don't know what credence -- it's absurd, and it’s totally false. And I must say, I question the motivations of them and who wrote it.

SAM HUSSEINI: Sir, this is from Human Rights Watch. They also put out a report criticizing Hezbollah. If you were a Hezbollah spokesperson, I would be asking you that question. They are talking about you using cluster bombs and targeting civilians indiscriminately. Aren’t you involved in the tradition of [inaudible] --

DANIEL AYALON: No, not at all.

SAM HUSSEINI: You’re a protagonist. How can you be believed as to what’s happening? This is an independent, very respected human rights group.

DANIEL AYALON: Well, it's not very respected to me anymore, if they come up with such ignorant remarks, which do not represent the truth. And they don't know what's going on, if they write these things. I mean, it is quite obvious that we have a situation here of a terror organization who embeds itself. Tell me, do you see of any Hezbollah camps in Lebanon? Does Human Rights – can the Human --