Jordana Miller, ABC News correspondent Interview

Jordana Miller joins Mendte in the Morning to talk about the ongoing war between Israel and Iran as someone who lives in Jerusalem.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, we are heading into our fourth day now of
airstrikes between Iran and Israel, and word out of Israel
right now is that this could take weeks and weeks
and weeks, so this isn't going away anytime soon. Israel
has one goal, and that is to take out the

(00:22):
all nuclear enrichment and any nuclear power capability that Iran
might have. Iraq seems to have another goal, and that
is just retaliation. And there have been mass bombings in Israel.
And live in Israel right now is Jordana Miller. She
is in Jerusalem, Jordana. I couldn't help thinking about you

(00:44):
during this whole thing, you and your family there. I
hope everybody, all our hearts and prayers go out to
the people of Israel and especially to you who have
gotten to know over the last couple of years. And
I hope everything is okay.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yeah, We're okay. You know, it's like a new this
is the new normal now, right. Sirens going off in
Jerusalem at least three times a day. Usually two of
those are in the middle of the night, where I
have to go with my young children across the street
from my house to a bomb shelter that is a

(01:22):
secure bomb shelter that's one floor down. Getting to know
my neighbors in new ways since we all are convening
there multiple times a day, and you know, it is say,
it is a new reality. Now today in Tel Aviv,
for example, you know, everyone's getting a very close look

(01:42):
at the damage of the impact sites. Last night. Aaron
fired about sixty five ballistic missiles last night and two
separate waves, and they hit four different places in Israel,
Tel Aviv, several buildings, apartment buildings, even causing slight damage
to the US Embassy extension right that's in Tel Aviv.

(02:08):
It used to be the main US embassy until it
moved here to Jerusalem. But that building still functions as
part of the embassy and it's enormous. There was some
damage there. The ambassador to Israel from the United States
my kugaby posted you know that everyone there is safe,
but there was some damage there. There was damage in Haifa,

(02:30):
in Petach Tikva city in central Israel, impact sites also
in Bene Barack overnight. The depth hole now at eight
but including you know, also almost one hundred injured. So now,
since the operation started on Friday morning at three am

(02:51):
with Israel's surprise what they're calling their preemptive strike on
Iran's nuclear and ballistic facilities. The death holls in Israel
is now up to twenty four with about four hundred injured.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
What is the feeling in Israel? Is Netnyahu being supported
in this?

Speaker 2 (03:11):
He is being supported in this. I have to say
he's being supported across the political spectrum from even politicians
that have been at odds of Nataniell for many years,
for example, his former Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, or another

(03:31):
former defense minister who unseated him of Tally Bennett, or
the head of the opposition yet e're Lapide defense minister
Jov Galant, who led most of this war, also supporting N'ataielle.
I mean, while there were legitimate questions about Nataielle's leadership
and his decisions in Gaza, that they were more motivated

(03:55):
by politics and keeping his coalition together when it comes
to Iran, everyone here is united in the just cause
of preventing Iran from getting nuclear weapons. And for the Israelis,
it's not just about the enrichment, which the world has
known about right and the IAE the Atomic Agency's been

(04:16):
talking about for a long time, that Iran rushed now
to enrich a lot of material up to sixty percent, right,
which is just a step away from weaponization. But the
Israelis are saying that's not that is a key part
of developing a nuclear weapon. But what they were worried
about is that Auran was making so much progress on

(04:38):
designing a warhead to carry those that nuclear material and
to essentially deploy it on a missile. And once they'd
done that, it was game over, right, So the Israelis
said this was the moment they decided it was time
to go in. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (04:57):
And one of the shocking things in interview yesterday on
Fox News was when nat Nyo who said that there
wasn't there was plans for an assassination on Donald Trump
and as a matter of fact, that the Uranians were
involved in both assassination attempts.

Speaker 2 (05:13):
Do you have more on that, Well, you know, the
reporting from various news agencies including ABC, is that President Trump,
you know, put his foot down and vetoed Israeli plans
to assassinate around Supreme Leader i Toola homene Now, during

(05:33):
his interview with Fox News, the Israeli Prime Minister denied
that he denied that Trump, you know, put down his
foot and he just kind of moved on, right. I mean,
it's looking at what the Israelis have done in Iran,
to their military leadership, to their leadership, you know, assassinating

(05:58):
their military leaders, assassinated their scientists. It's well within reason
to think that the Supreme Leader would have been in
their crosshairs, right. I mean, he's virtually the only leader
still standing at this point. Right, So, you know, it
may be that Natanielle was given a kind of red
line at that moment. I think the critical question moving

(06:21):
forward is, you know, will will the US end up
joining this operation, this war against you know, against Iran's
nuclear facilities or not. And I think, you know, I
don't even I don't think there's a clear answer yet,
even in Washington. But I think that's one of the

(06:42):
key things to watch going forward.

Speaker 1 (06:44):
Jordana, I know you're in demand today. I appreciate you
spending a few minutes with us. Jordana Miller, ABC News
correspondent live in Jerusalem. Thank you so much, Jordana.

Speaker 2 (06:54):
Thanks Larry Tucson