DANIEL AYALON: Who said we will not? We are still working on that. Thank you very much.

AMY GOODMAN: Daniel Ayalon, Israel's ambassador to the United States, being questioned by Sam Husseini, communications director of the Institute for Public Accuracy, with special thanks to Matt Bradley for the audio recording. Sam Husseini, in the Washington, D.C. studio, it was interesting when you asked the ambassador about Israel's use of cluster bombs. He denied the use. But Israel has already admitted that they have used cluster bombs in Lebanon, after Human Rights Watch came out with their report saying that they did.

SAM HUSSEINI: It shows the systematic pattern of the lying, because when they're confronted with documentation on the back pages of the New York Times, they tacitly acknowledge some part of the truth. But when they’re put in front of the TV cameras, they lie brazenly. That's the pattern of war-makers, I’ve found. And also I asked him about cluster bombs, because he was going on about Hezbollah allegedly using some munitions which have some sort of ball bearings, which inflict damage on civilians and hurt people and kill people. He was going on about that quite a bit. And that's what prompted me to really say, well, what about your use of cluster bombs? And then he just outright lied. It's extraordinary.

He also, when I was asking him about the Human Rights Watch report, what did he say in the end? He said, “Go ask the Lebanese people,” which is an extraordinarily brazen thing for him to say. I think what needs to happen is that we need to set up substantial infrastructure of asking tough questions to these people. The mainstream media clearly isn't doing it. And I think that it's an important role for the independent media, as well as the international media, the Al Jazeeras, and BBCs, as well as The Nation and this program. You put out a lot of fine information, Amy. And I try to put out a lot of fine information in IPA news releases, but there it stays.

AMY GOODMAN: How do you find out where people are speaking?

SAM HUSSEINI: Well, the Washington Post is kind enough to publish that information on Saturday on page -- it’s usually about page C-5 of the Washington Post. They tell you who’s on what program in Washington, D.C.

AMY GOODMAN: And we only have 30 seconds, but the issue of nuclear weapons, asking the Israeli ambassador if they have them.

SAM HUSSEINI: Well, I didn't ask him if they have them, because I know that they have them. I asked him why they refuse to acknowledge them. He didn't answer why they refuse to acknowledge them. What he said was, we will not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons, which technically is true, because the U.S. introduced nuclear weapons to the region a long time ago. So it’s another devious ploy. And what's more brazen is that U.S. officials will not acknowledge that Israel has nuclear weapons. If you ask the White House or the State Department, “Does Israel have nuclear weapons? Do you think Israel has nuclear weapons?” they will not give a straight answer.

AMY GOODMAN: Sam, we have to leave it there. Sam Husseini with Institute for Public Accuracy. His blog is husseini.org.