SAM HUSSEINI: -- this is a quote, “found no cases in which Hezbollah deliberately used civilians as shields to protect themselves from IDF attacks.” They went on to write about Qana. The day of the attack, they did extensive questioning -- 
DANIEL AYALON: Were they there? Were they there? They're writing in -- no. Yes, I was there. We were there. Israeli soldiers were there. No, no, no, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’ll ask you a simple question for the Human Rights. Can they direct us -- you or me -- or the international community to a single base of Hezbollah? Does Hezbollah have bases? No.
SAM HUSSEINI: They talk about Hezbollah having caches in certain places. They talk about --
DANIEL AYALON: Yeah. Do they have bases? No. Hezbollah fires. Hezbollah fires from mosques. Hezbollah fires -- I’m telling you.
SAM HUSSEINI: -- they fire from [inaudible]. They fire from orchards.
DANIEL AYALON: And they fire from schoolyards, and they fire from UN positions. It's just too bad that we work about something that you obviously don't know and they obviously don't know. I’m sorry about it. The fact that it's written over there doesn't make it true. I think reality on the ground speaks for itself. And the reality on the ground is that they target civilians and we target Hezbollah. The fact that Hezbollah is embedded among Lebanese civilians is a problem. But go ask the Lebanese about it, and they will tell you.
JUAN GONZALEZ: Daniel Ayalon, Israel's ambassador to the U.S., being question by Sam Husseini of the Institute for Public Accuracy. He went onto the issue of nuclear weapons. In the 1980s, Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu first exposed that Israel had secretly developed an extensive nuclear program. Since then, it's widely acknowledged that Israel is a major nuclear power in the Middle East. Again, this is Sam Husseini questioning Israeli Ambassador Daniel Ayalon.
SAM HUSSEINI: Why does Israel refuse to acknowledge its possession of nuclear weapons? And Mordechai Vanunu, the Israeli whistleblower, has suggested a tradeoff, where you have a nuclear-free Middle East -- [inaudible]
DANIEL AYALON: Sir, you are talking and --
SAM HUSSEINI: -- Israelis nuclear weapons. Isn't Israel’s nuclear possession provocative in the region?
DANIEL AYALON: Who says we have nuclear possession? Have we ever said that? We said -- the only thing we said -- the only thing we said, that Israel will not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons in the Middle East. This has been our position all along. Israel is the only country, unfortunately, who has been threatened. Its survival was at stake, as countries in the Middle East are calling for its demise. So we have this, what you call an ambiguous -- or policy for ambiguity, as a matter of national defense.
SAM HUSSEINI: Isn’t Iran trying to replicate that by having a nuclear --
DANIEL AYALON: Is anybody -- is anybody threatening Iran's survival? Did we say that Iran should be decimated? It's Iran who says Israel has to be decimated. So I think you have to get your facts correctly and cipher them out. I’m sorry, it's just a futile conversation here.
JUAN GONZALEZ: Sam Husseini went on to ask the Israeli ambassador about Israel's use of cluster bombs. In their report, Human Rights Watch documented the use of cluster bombs on the ground in Lebanon.
SAM HUSSEINI: Are you using cluster bombs in Lebanon?
DANIEL AYALON: No, we are not. We're not using anything which is not approved by the UN conventions and charters.
SAM HUSSEINI: Why did you bomb the electrical facilities in Lebanon?
DANIEL AYALON: Lebanon has electric capabilities, which is running. They have running water. We are not targeting any of the infrastructures. We could have done a lot of damage, which we're not doing, specifically because we're very much concerned about the humanitarian conditions over there.
AMY GOODMAN: The role of the United Nations in the current conflict was also a hot topic during the questioning. Here, Sam Husseini asks Israel's ambassador to the United States, Daniel Ayalon, about UN Security Council Resolution 1559, adopted in 2004, and called, among other things, for Syria to end its military presence in Lebanon.
SAM HUSSEINI: You’ve been quoting from Resolution 1559. Isn’t Israel -- hasn’t it been for a long time in violation of dozens of UN security resolutions? For example, 446, 451, 465, regarding Israeli settlement activity in the Occupied Territories.
DANIEL AYALON: Not at all. I think you mix up between resolutions, which are enforceable, like UN Security Council and General Assembly resolutions.
SAM HUSSEINI: [inaudible] Security Council [inaudible] --
DANIEL AYALON: Right, right, right.
SAM HUSSEINI: I’m naming them. 446, 451, 465.
DANIEL AYALON: No, we're not, I’ll tell you why. I’ll tell you exactly --
SAM HUSSEINI: [inaudible] Security Council resolutions.
DANIEL AYALON: I don't know why you don't read your history. It's very recent history. We pulled out of Gaza completely, dismantling 21 --
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