EMMANUEL MACRON:
I think this is the only solution we have, this ceasefire. Because it’s impossible to explain we want to fight against terrorism by killing innocent people. De facto, today civilians are bombed. De facto, there’s babies, there’s ladies, there’s old people are bombed and killed. There is no reason for that and no legitimacy so we do urge Israel to stop.
NETANYAHU ANALYZED AND DE-CONSTRUCTED BY EDITOR
KRISTEN WELKER:
Joining me now is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Mr. Prime Minister, welcome back to Meet the Press.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU:
Thank you. Good to be with you.
KRISTEN WELKER:
We really appreciate your being here. This is our first chance to talk to you since the horrific attack by Hamas against Israel on October 7th. Of course, now the ground offensive to eradicate Hamas is underway. Mr. Prime Minister, can you tell us, how will you know when you have achieved your objective, and how close are you to that goal?
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU:
We’ve set a specific target. That is to destroy Hamas’s military capabilities and to destroy its governance capabilities over the 2 million people that it holds hostage in Gaza. That is something that we are achieving step by step, and I assure you we’ll complete the task.
If you want peace, destroy Hamas. If you want security, destroy Hamas. If you want a future for Israel, the Palestinians, the Middle East, destroy Hamas. We’re absolutely intent on achieving it and what I can tell you, Kristen, is given the extraordinary performance of the Israeli Army in the last few days, the last few weeks, we’re going to achieve it. We’ll do it with as few civilian casualties as we can, and with maximum casualties on the Hamas terrorists, which we’re achieving day by day, hour by hour. We will complete the task. Victory.
EDITOR: “NETANYAHU and Israel do NOT enjoy a legal right to ‘root out Hamas’ no more than any other civilian population under ILLEGAL OCCUPATION by a state actor.
Israel’s 54 year long illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories PROHIBITS AND FORFEIT’S ISRAEL claim of a RIGHT TO DEFENSE when it comes to Israel using state military force against a civilian population, its government or its armed resistance groups.
The legal diplomatic remedy for a state actor illegally occupying a civil population – and any skirmishes or attacks arising as a direct result of a state’s ILLEGAL OCCUPATION of a civilian population – is for the ILLEGAL OCCUPIER to deoccupy the Occupied Territories.
Israel has been holding 2.5 million Palestinians hostage in Gaza since 1967. Incredibly and amazingly the U.S. and Israel demand and harbor great expectations and fantasies of peace – with no pushback, no fighting for freedom from Israel’s victims – literally held in the world’s largest open air prison, suffering state-sponsored economic terrorism for the past 54 years: 90% poverty; 75% unemployment, generational hopelessness. How would that make you feel?
How would you feel if you were a member of a civil population without control of your own borders, confined to your borders for the rest of your life at the hands of an illegal foreign state military blockade by land, sea and air? Would you protest? Would you want to fight for your freedom?
What about all that freedom and democracy Democrats and Republican warmongers are always talking about? It’s NO WHERE TO BE FOUND when it comes to recognizing the legal rights of the Palestinian people, much less PROTECTING the legal rights of the Palestinian people.
Netanyahu is clearly out of his mind; clearly a shameless Zionist butcher of humanity, shamelessly issuing streams of maniacal lies, extreme deliberate indifference and hardcore racism against the Palestinian people.
Netanyahu speaks the language of Nazism, the hardcore racism of Nazism; and unlike the Palestinian people and government, Netanyahu is an extreme, expansionist conqueror, not unlike Adolf Hitler.
Netanyahu is currently busy trying to unlawfully annex the Palestinian territories over to Israel.
The most dangerous and deadly situation and show on Earth is the plight of this insanely violent, mass murdering, megalomaniac racist Benamin Netanyahu; precisely because of Netanyahu’s great desire to keep his ass out of prison and in control of Israel.
Netanyahu is well aware of the general consensus in Israel, that as soon as Netanyahu ends his military actions against the Palestinians and returns to business-as-usual government, he knows a majority of Israelis are going to dislodge him from power and throw his ass in jail.
NETANYAHU has a fundamental misunderstanding or blatant disregard for the legal rights of a civilian population such as the Palestinian people.
The NUMBER ONE ZIONIST LIE is that Israel has a legal right to enter Palestinian territory at will and eliminate any and all armed resistance of the Palestinian people at will.
Under int’l law and the Geneva Conventions, a civilian population is entitled to form armed resistance groups, especially in the face of an ILLEGAL OCCUPYING POWER such as the State of Israel.
Personally, one of the most shocking and disturbing things I have ever witnessed is how Netanyahu, Israel and American Zionists fanatically assume and promote the false claim that the Palestinian people have no legal right to armed resistance whatsoever.
What kind of government official harbors illusions of grandeur and great expectations of peace from their victims suffering under 75 years of illegal, immoral occupation, mass imprisonment and state-sponsored oppression of 2.3 million Palestinians?
What kind of government official squarely blames the Palestinian people for exercising their legal and moral right to form armed resistance groups to fight for Palestinian freedom from their ILLEGAL OCCUPIERS ISRAEL?
Netanyahu and American Zionists tell Americans and the world that the Hamas government and Hamas freedom fighters are the root cause of all the Palestinian civilians murdered by Israel and their US-backed air strikes – AS IF HAMAS WERE NOT PALESTINIANS WHOSE MOTHERS, FATHERS, WIVES, HUSBANDS, SISTERS, BROTHERS, AND ENTIRE FAMILIES WERE MURDERED BY ISRAELI AIRSTRIKES.
HOW DARE PRESIDENT BIDEN AND AMERICAN CHRISTO-FASCISTS WAX ON AND ON ABOUT AMERICA “SPREADING FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY” WHEN IN FACT AMERICA IS SUPPLYING ISRAEL WITH THE BOMBS AND MISSILES TO EFFECTIVELY MASS MURDER OVER 11,000 PALESTINIANS THUS FAR IN THE PAST 37 DAYS.
How dare President Biden and other flag-waving American patriots blather on endlessly, year after year, Veteran’s Day after Veteran’s Day about America fighting for independence, freedom and democracy – yet Biden, American Zionists AND THE U.S. Ziomedia will not talk about Palestinians’ legal rights, especially their legal and moral right to fight for independence freedom and democracy.
Our American Ziomedia very intentionally refrains from presenting any Israeli war crimes within the context of int’l law; especially the Ziomedia’s inattention to the legal fact and reality of U.N. Resolution 242, ordering Israel OUT of the Palestinian territories and ordering Israel to recognize Palestinians’ Right of Return to their own homeland.
When Netanyahu is confronted about him and Israel denying Palestinians’ unalienable right to freedom and democracy, Netanyahu claims Hamas are the ones denying Palestinians freedom and democracy.
The U.S. Ziomedia has always mischaracterized any Palestinian armed resistance group as “terrorists” committing terrorist acts; when in fact any civilian population has a legal right to form armed resistance groups; especially when a civilian population is under an ILLEGAL OCCUPYING POWER such as Israel.
President Biden and the U.S. State Dept. (Sec. of State Blinken) and Pentagon spokesman John Kirby never, ever tell the American people that the Palestinian people enjoy an unmitigated legal right to form armed resistance groups to fight for their freedom from their ILLEGAL OCCUPIERS ISRAEL.
What Netanyahu and American Zionists want is for the Palestinian people to SHUTUP, LAY IT DOWN, ACCEPT YOUR LIFELONG FATE OF GENERATIONAL HOPELESSNESS AT THE HANDS OF ISRAEL AND THE UNITED STATES AND NEVER FORM ANY ARMED RESISTANCE GROUP EVER AGAIN.
Netanyahu and American Zionists want the Palestinian people to never fight for their freedom and independence ever again.
Instead of recognizing the Palestinian people’s legal right to form armed resistance groups to free themselves from US-backed Israeli occupation and war crimes, Israeli and American Zionists have a dream and goal that is absolutely ILLEGAL, IMMORAL AND UNATTAINABLE: which is to go in and “Root Out Hamas.”
Netanyahu makes the false claim that there are a finite number of Hamas members and if Netanyahu can just kill each and every Hamas member, Israel will arrive at SQUARE ONE.
Israel has approx. 300,000 IDF soldiers in Gaza fighting approx. 50,000 Hamas fighters.
It took Israel 30 days to kill only 1,000 Hamas fighters. At anything near that rate, it could take Israel at least four years of around-the-clock military fighting and occupation to achieve anything near their goal of “rooting out Hamas.” The New York Times and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barack stated that Netanyahu’s goal of “rooting out Hamas” is unattainable and foolish.
NONSENSE. Killing Hamas members and thousands of Palestinian men, women and children, only serves to RECONSTITUTE PALESTINIAN ARMED RESISTANCE GROUPS with surviving family members of US-backed Israeli air strikes. That’s why Netanyahu will never eliminate the new formation of Palestinian armed resistance groups.
THE MORE PALESTINIANS NETANYAHU KILLS, THE MORE PALESTINIANS FORM AND JOIN ARMED RESISTANCE GROUPS. Netanyahu creates the self-fulfilling prophecy he wants, by mass murdering as many Palestinians the world will let him get away with. The U.S. dares anyone to step in to STOP ISRAEL’S WAR CRIMES AND MASS MURDER of the Palestinian people.
Netanyahu also makes the specious claim that Israel’s goal is not only to eradicate Hamas, but to eradicate “Hamas radicalization” of the Palestinian people. None can ever eliminate the Will of the Palestinian people to exercise their legal and human right to form armed resistance groups to free the Palestinian people from another 75 years of illegal, unjust Israeli occupation, blockades, mass imprisonment and economic oppression.
Such Zionist lies highlight how Netanyahu, Israel and American Zionists constantly try to separate and distinguish Hamas from the Palestinian people, which is absurdly ridiculous and disingenious precisely because Hamas ARE PALESTINIANS AND WILL ALWAYS BE RECONSTITUTED BY THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE.
Netanyahu, American Zionists and the U.S. Ziomedia constantly propagandize Americans into falsely believing that Palestinians have no right to free themselves and if Israel can permanently eliminate Hamas then the Palestinian people will be happy and have nothing to complain about and should never fight for their freedom from Zionist occupation, mass imprisonment and economic oppression for the rest of their lives and their children’s lives.
Netanyahu has no plans or solution to end 90% poverty and 75% unemployment in the world’s largest open air concentration camp known as Gaza.
It is particularly heinous and evil for Netanyahu and American Zionists to constantly tell the American people the GIANT ZIONIST LIE that the problem between Israel and the Palestinian people is the Palestinian people don’t want Hamas or any armed resistance group – and would be content to live another 75 years under Israeli war crimes of ongoing illegal occupation, content to live under US-backed Israeli mass imprisonment of 2.5 million Palestinians, but for a Hamas government and armed resistance to Israel’s war crimes against the Palestinian people.
Israel’s illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories and it’s military blockade of Gaza by land, air and sea ARE DE FACTO WAR CRIMES THE U.S. ZIOMEDIA AND NETANYAHU NEVER TALK ABOUT, EVER.
Our evil U.S. Ziomedia utilizes their professional journalistic skills to LIE THEIR ASSES OFF FOR ISRAEL, constantly reinforcing Netanyahu’s pack of deadly Zionist lies he unleashed in his Nov. 12, 2023 MEET THE PRESS interview.
Americans are so accustomed to consuming longterm, U.S. Ziomedia Israeli war crimes propaganda that if someone appeared on American networks and simply enumerated the legal rights of the Palestinian people, it would be considered by U.S. Ziomedia and Americans as a “radical act.”
Americans have NEVER IN THEIR LIVES HEARD ANYONE TELL THEM THE LEGAL RIGHTS OF THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE.”
KRISTEN WELKER:
Do you think it will take months? Will it take years? What should people be expecting?
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU:
I don’t think it’s going to take the time that it took the United States and the International Coalition to defeat ISIS or to defeat Al Qaeda. It took you many years. I don’t think it’s going to be many years. But I’ve set targets and not a deadline. And we’re proceeding as quickly as we can, but also as carefully as we can. Because we want to minimize civilian casualties, and we want to minimize casualties on our side, while maximizing the casualties of the Hamas terrorists. And we’re actually achieving both. I would say the ground offensive that we began is actually reducing the amount of civilian casualties because the population, the civilian population in Gaza is heeding our call to vacate the territories, the zone of fighting, get out of harm’s way, even though Hamas is trying to keep them in harm’s way. We’re succeeding in that. So the level of civilian casualties is coming down, importantly, and our military successes are coming up. That’s important as well.
EDITOR: “Whenever Netanyahu is confronted with the truth of a matter and his war crimes, Netanyahu deflects, distracts and justifies his war crimes by citing American war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan as lawful, acceptable and justification for Netanyahu’s war crimes.
Netanyahu shamelessly and effortlessly issues MASSIVE LIES about “minimizing civilian casualties” and “reducing the number of civilian casualties” with Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza.
Netanyahu tries to pass off Israel’s order to Palestinians to “vacate North Gaza” as legal, lawful and necessary when in fact such state-sponsored forced migration is a de facto war crime.
Israel illegally executed Israel’s first forced migration war crime against the Palestinian people in 1947-1948, known as NAKBA.
Netanyahu’s current forced migration against the Palestinian people constitutes NAKBA 2023 – another illegal war crime against the Palestinian people.
Here’s the Peace2024.Org webpage on NAKBA:
Here’s the Peace2024.Org webpage on Israeli war crimes:
When Netanyahu says this will take months and possibly years, Netanyahu is hoping and intending to drag out and extend Israel’s illegal invasion, attack and occupation of Gaza as long as possible, to avoid Netanyahu’s inevitable state criminal charges and possible state prison time, just like Trump.”
Here’s the Peace2024.Org webpage on Netanyahu’s legal troubles back home:
KRISTEN WELKER:
Let’s talk about what’s happening at Al-Shifa Hospital. There are reports that there’s been a loss of power, which has caused the death of patients and even some infants. And I know that Israel has said Hamas is headquartered there. Even if that is the case, does that justify jeopardizing the lives of sick people and babies, Mr. Prime Minister?
EDITOR: “Why didn’t Walker ask Netanyahu, “WHY DON’T YOU TURN THE ELECTRICITY AND WATER BACK ON NOW TO SAVE LIVES?” Walker sure as hell will not point out the FACT that it is a war crime for an ILLEGAL OCCUPYING POWER to have absolute control of electricity and water supply to a civilian population, much less CUT OFF ELECTRICITY AND WATER TO A CIVILIAN POPULATION.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU:
On the contrary, we offered, actually, last night to give them enough fuel to operate the hospital, operate the incubators and so on, because we have obviously no battle with patients or with civilians at all. And I think every civilian death, every dead baby is a tragedy. But that tragedy should be placed squarely at the responsibility of Hamas that is keeping its military installations inside hospitals, its command posts inside hospitals, inside schools, inside UNRWA, UN facilities, and so on. So we obviously don’t want to give them immunity, but at the same time, we’re sensitive to this issue. So we offered this help. They refused it. I’ve offered something else. I’ve said let’s build field hospitals. I asked the Emirates. I asked the French president to send a floating hospital ship. We’ve asked other countries too, the UNRWA and so on, “Build field hospitals. Let’s move the patients out of these Hamas command posts in the hospitals to these safe places.” So far they’ve moved a few patients. Not enough. I hope more will move. We’re trying to deal with this as carefully as we can while not giving sanctuary to Hamas.
EDITOR: “Netanyahu would rather cross the street to tell a lie than stand on this side of the street and tell the truth. Netanyahu is a serial liar and an unrepentant, unprosecuted, mass murdering meglomaniac.
FIRST OF ALL, it is a de facto war crime for a state-run military such as Israel’s IDF to target, attack and destroy civilian hospitals, period. SECOND, even if Hamas built an underground bunker underneath any Gaza hospital, Israel does not have a legal or moral right to destroy a civilian hospital to kill the armed resistance of the Palestinian people.
Netanyahu, Biden and American Zionists either do not know int’l law or they maliciously and very intentionally ignore applying int’l law and the Geneva Conventions in their decisions and actions toward the Palestinian people, INCLUDING any armed resistance formed by the Palestinian people.“
Here’s the Peace2024.Org webpage on Gaza hospitals:
KRISTEN WELKER:
Let’s talk about the hostages. There are reports that there is a possible deal that would involve getting out women and children and the elderly. How close are you to reaching a deal to get more of the hostages out?
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU:
Well, Kristen, I can say that we weren’t close at all until we started the ground operation. In fact, we heard that there’s an impending deal of this kind or that kind and then we learned that it was all “hoka.” It was nothing. But the minute we started the ground operation, things began to change.
KRISTEN WELKER:
So is there a potential deal?
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU:
And the pressure –
KRISTEN WELKER:
Mr. Prime Minister, is there a potential deal?
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU:
There could be, but I think the less I say about it the more I’ll increase the chances that it materializes. And it’s a result of pressure, military pressure, the extraordinary work that the IDF is doing. Putting pressure on the Hamas leadership. That’s the one thing that might create a deal and if a deal is available, well, we’ll talk about it when it’s there. We’ll announce it if it’s achieved.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Do you know where all of the hostages are being held right now, Mr. Prime Minister?
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU:
We know a great deal. But I won’t go beyond that.
EDITOR: “Of course Netanyahu is lying about anything and everything related to the hostages. Netanyahu was warned by Hamas weeks PRIOR TO Oct. 7 that if Netanyahu didn’t stop months and months of Israeli police and Jewish armed crazy uber-racist settlers from raiding mosques and beating, arresting worshippers, Hamas would take civilian hostages and even sent Netanyahu a Hamas demonstration video of what Hamas would do if Netanyahu didn’t stop the mosque raids, beatdowns and arrests.
Netanyahu KNEW FULL WELL HE COULD MOTIVATE HAMAS TO RESPOND TO NETANYAHU’S MOSQUE RAIDS. How come Dana Bash, CNN, MSNBC don’t ask Netanyahu about his mosque raids and Hamas warnings PRIOR TO OCT. 7, 2023?
Here’s the Peace2024.Org webpage of videos showing Israeli police violently beating al Aqsa mosque worshippers while kneeling, praying during Ramadan:
KRISTEN WELKER:
Okay. There are a lot of mixed messages, as you know, coming out about what has been agreed to as it relates to humanitarian pauses. Can you be very clear for our audience, what has Israel agreed to in terms of daily humanitarian pauses? Have you agreed to four-hour daily pauses?
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU:
Yeah, let me be clear on what we agreed on and what we don’t agree on. What we don’t agree on is give a ceasefire to Hamas, with the exception of one intended for the release of our hostages. We’re going to continue this to the end. We have to have victory. There’s no substitute for victory, and we’ll destroy Hamas, again, for our sake and for the sake of peace in the future. But in addition to that, we’re fighting a war in which we are trying, doing our best in a way that very few armies have done, to give a safe corridor for civilians to get out of harm’s way. As we’re doing that, Hamas is firing on the safe corridors that we’re giving to the Palestinian civilians. So against all these obstacles, we’re still calling on civilians to leave. And for that, we create pauses – that is, a four-hour pause, three-hour pause and this in a particular area while the fighting proceeds elsewhere, to let the civilians out of harm’s way. That’s what we’ve been doing. We’ve been doing it through the cooperation with President Biden and the administration. And I think it’s the right thing to do. We’ve created a humanitarian safe zone in southwest Gaza below the fighting area, south of the fighting area. We’ve pushed in humanitarian aid to help those civilians. And I think it’s a combination of the two things: fight Hamas, don’t give them safe haven, but allow those Palestinian civilian populations to reach a safe zone.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Mr. Prime Minister, as you know, even those in the South say they do not feel safe. French President Emmanuel Macron has said there is, quote, “No justification” for the ongoing bombing of civilians. All over the world you’ve seen protesters who are calling for an end to civilian deaths in Gaza. Can you win this war without global support?
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU:
We will win this war because we have no other choice. There’s no life for us. There’s no future for us and our neighbors if we allow the axis of terror, led by Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and their minions to dominate. We have an alliance for peace on the other side. It includes Israel, the United States, the moderate Arab states, and the rest of the civilized world. Now, it’s a question of who wins? We have to win. There’s confusion in many parts of the world. I have to say, not in the United States. I’m glad to see that the majority of the American people support Israel. They understand that we’re fighting the just battle of civilization against barbarism. But those who protest for Hamas, you’re protesting for sheer evil. There are a lot of misguided people out there who don’t know the facts. You’re talking to people who deliberately targeted civilians, who raped and murdered women. Who raped – who beheaded men, who burned babies alive, who kidnapped little babies and Holocaust survivors, you name it. These are the people that you’re supporting. Now, you cannot, it’s like in World War II. The Allies are fighting the Nazis, okay? Chancellor Scholz of Germany said that Hamas are the new Nazis. So imagine now the Allies are fighting the Nazis.They’ve invaded France after they were attacked by the Nazis. They go into the cities of Germany. Obviously, the Nazis are fighting within civilian quarters, and civilians get killed. In fact, many of them were killed. Millions were killed. Now, who do you protest against? Do you protest against the Nazis or do you protest against the Allies? And what these people are doing is protesting for sheer evil. That’s wrong. And by the way, it’s a condemnation. It’s an indictment of higher education in some of our universities.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Mr. Prime Minister, as you know, a number of the protesters are protesting the actions by Israel. Even the secretary of state saying, quote, “Far too many Palestinian civilians have been killed.” Let me ask you this: how many civilian deaths are you willing to bear in order to achieve your ultimate goal of eradicating Hamas?
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU:
If I had my way, there wouldn’t be a single civilian death. If I had my way, no civilians would be killed. If Israel had its way and our calls would be heeded, they’ll all be out of harm’s way. And in fact, I’m saying this luckily now and fortunately, hundreds of thousands have moved out of harm’s way, heeding our calls and overcoming Hamas’ threats at them at gunpoint not to leave the zone.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Do you know how many civilians have been killed, Mr. Prime Minister? Do you know how many civilians have been killed? Do you have an accounting of the number?
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU:
I wouldn’t trust the Hamas numbers. When you say Gazan officials, that’s Hamas officials. That’s what I’m saying.
KRISTEN WELKER:
What’s your number? What’s your number?
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU:
It’s lower than theirs. And what is most important, Kristen, is that we see a steady decline in the number of civilian deaths as we – as our ground action proceeds. Because basically, people understand that they have to clear the way, and they leave. And remember, our goal, and we’re taking extraordinary efforts to achieve it, is to minimize civilian casualties. This is our ethos. And here’s the problem. We’re faced with the most vicious kind of enemy, who not only attacks civilians, but commits the other war crime of deliberately hiding behind their civilians. They use them as human shields. They fire on our safe corridors that we give to Palestinian civilians. Not Israel who is doing that. So we have to at once try to focus our fire on the terrorists, try to minimize the civilian deaths, but at the same time not give immunity. Because I’ll tell you what’ll happen, Kristen. That will, this system. We’ll do everything we can to minimize civilian casualties. But you have to do everything in your power to lay the blame for the civilian casualties on where it belongs, on Hamas. We don’t want to make human shields an effective strategy for terrorists.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Mr. Prime Minister, I have a few more questions to get through, and I know that we’re running out of time, so let me keep moving.The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said just this morning that while Hamas has committed war crimes, “the collective punishment by Israel of Palestinian civilians amounts also to a war crime.” Can you definitively say right now that Israel is not breaking international law?
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU:
Yes. I can say that what the commissioner said is hogwash. Because we’re, the main difference is, are you deliberately targeting civilians? No. We’re deliberately doing everything in our power to target the terrorists and the civilians, as happens in every legitimate war, are sometimes what are called collateral damage. There’s a longer way of saying unintended casualties. That’s clearly what Israel is doing. And what clearly Hamas is doing is the opposite. They’re doing everything in their power to have their civilians hurt because they want this ridiculous and wanton attack on Israel – on Israel’s legitimacy to take root. And unfortunately, people are giving into this. If we lose sight, if we lose the moral clarity of supporting the force that is fighting the terrorists that are hiding behind civilians, and blaming the victim for these attacks, the victim who takes the just action to defend itself, then we’ll never be able to fight the terrorists. They’ll always hide behind civilians and we’ll never be able to fight them.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Let me ask you about Gaza, Mr. Prime Minister. You said Saturday you are opposed to the Palestinian Authority returning to control Gaza after the war. And you say that Israel will control Gaza for as long as is needed. Are you saying that Israel would reoccupy Gaza? And what do you say to those who say there should be an international force that governs Gaza after the war?
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU:
Well, I think Gaza has to make sure that we – it’s not a threat to Israel. We said, “Destroy Hamas.” And for that, if we want to have peace, we have to destroy Hamas. This is what Israel must do, and this is what Israel will do.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Would you accept an international force, Mr. Prime Minister? Would you accept an international force?
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU:
I think that the only force right now that can guarantee that Hamas, that terrorism does not reappear and take over Gaza again is the Israeli military. So overall military responsibility will have to be in Israel. As far as the civilian management of Gaza, we need to see the following two things: Gaza has to be demilitarized and Gaza has to be de-radicalized. And I think so far we haven’t seen any Palestinian force, including the Palestinian Authority, that is able to do it. They teach their children to hate Israel. They’re not fighting terrorists. They’re paying for slaying. That is, the more terrorists – the more Palestinian terrorists murder Jews, the more they get paid. And to this day, 36 days after the worst savagery perpetrated on the Jewish people since the Holocaust, the Palestinian Authority president has yet – refuses to condemn the savagery. So we need a different authority. We need a different administration.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Who would that be?
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU:
There has to be Israeli – a military envelope.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Who would that be?
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU:
I think it’s too early to say.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Okay.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU:
Kristen, I think it’s too early to say, but I can say one thing. The first task we have to achieve is defeat Hamas. The first task the Allies had to achieve before they could reconstruct Germany was to defeat the Nazis. These, as the German chancellor said, are the new Nazis. We’ll defeat them. And then we’ll work to have a demilitarized and a de-radicalized Gaza, which will give hope to these people. They’re living under 16 years of horrendous tyrannical rule of Hamas. We’ll liberate them and we’ll liberate ourselves from this horror, this scourge of barbarism that plagues not only us. It’s not only our war. Kristen, it’s your war, too. It’s the war of civilization against barbarism. We have to win it, and we will.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Very quickly, Mr. Prime Minister, as you know, many of Israel’s top military, security and political leaders have taken responsibility for the attacks on October 7th. Can you be clear? Do you bear any responsibility for missing the attack?
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU:
Well, I’ve said that after the war there will be a thorough investigation, and everybody will have to answer some very tough questions, including myself.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Do you bear responsibility?
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU:
But right now we’re focused on one thing.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Do you bear some responsibility?
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU:
We all bear responsibility. Look, nobody’s going to evade responsibility. It’s a non-issue.
KRISTEN WELKER:
But was your government distracted, Mr. Prime Minister?
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU:
Not because it’s a non-issue. But because there will be time to deal with it. And the time that we have to deal with it is right now to win this victory. After Pearl Harbor, after 9/11, did you delve into that question? Of course you did, afterwards. But the first thing that you did was unite the entire country. America united to defeat the terrorists. And Israel right now, after our twenty 9/11s, twenty. Proportionately, that’s what we’ve suffered. Twenty 9/11s on a single day. Right now I’m uniting the country, and we’re going to fight until we achieve victory. Nothing short of victory.
KRISTEN WELKER:
What do you say to those who argue your administration was distracted by the months of protests due to your judicial reforms?
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU:
We weren’t distracted at all. There will be time to answer all these questions, and I don’t want to get into that. But again, I think right now, rather than re-litigating the past, which many people perhaps would like to do, but I think it’s wrong. I think right now we have to focus every ounce of energy, every ounce of will and resolve to achieve our goal of destroying Hamas because our future depends on it. We won’t have time to re-litigate the past if we don’t have a future. Let’s make sure we have a future. Let’s defeat Hamas, which is, again, the battle to defeat the axis of terror. Because Hamas is the integral part of this axis of terror. And you know what? Everyone is sitting on the bleachers in the Middle East and in the world. And they want to see who’s going to win. The good guys or the bad guys? And history doesn’t favor automatically the good guys. They have to muster their resolve, their courage, their determination to defeat the bad guys. Otherwise we get into a dark age. It’s happened before in history. We must make sure it doesn’t happen again. That’s what we’re focused on. And I know most Americans understand that we have to defeat Hamas for our sake, and for your sake as well.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Prime Minister Netanyahu, thank you so very much for all of your time this morning. We really do appreciate it.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU:
Thank you, Kristen.