The free world must back Israel’s war against Hamas, a terror group that is an integral part of the Iranian terror front that endangers Western nations, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday night.
“Those who worry about the future of their countries and the Middle East, I say one thing, you must stand against Hamas,” Netanyahu said.
“Our battle is your battle. In this war we must win, both for our sakes and for yours,” Netanyahu said amid growing pressure on Israel for an immediate ceasefire to the war, now in its second month.
He urged Western leaders not to bow to support to public protests against Israel’s military campaign to oust Hamas from Gaza in the aftermath of the October 7 attack, in which the terror group killed over 1,200 people and seized another 239 hostages.
He thanked US President Joe Biden for his support, as he urged all of the American public to support Israel in this war and its stance against any ceasefire without the return of the hostages.
Many Western leaders support Israel, Netanyahu said, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t disagreements, particularly because of public pressure.”
“No international pressure will change our faith in the righteousness of our path,” Netanyahu said.
“There won’t be any ceasefire without the return of our hostages,” he said.
Return of the hostages is central
The return of the hostages is a central mission of the war, Netanyahu stressed as he refused to comment on reports of a potential hostage deal that could include the release of dozens if not 100 of the hostages.
Israel’s secularity is dependent on its destruction of Hamas, Netanyahu said as he promised that Israel would retain security control over Gaza once the war is over.
The United States has insisted that the Palestinians must have control of Gaza after the war, but it has not provided details of what kind of a security architecture would exist there. It has said that it understands that the IDF could briefly have control over the area until a permanent resolution is found for the security situation.
Netanyahu said Israel would always have to retain the right to go after terror targets in Gaza. He partially ducked a question about whether the Palestinian Authority would control Gaza after the war.
He explained instead that whoever controls Gaza must be able to condemn the October 7 attack and would not teach Palestinian children to hate and destroy Israel. Netanyahu said that such a government could also not pay monetary stipends to terrorists.
He spoke as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken ended a nine-day trip abroad, which included stops in Israel and the larger Middle East, with a visit to India, in which he discussed the Gaza war and expressed his concern for the high Palestinian death toll. Hamas has asserted that over 11,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza war-related violence.
“Far too many Palestinians have been killed; far too many have suffered these past weeks. And we want to do everything possible to prevent harm to them and to maximize the assistance that gets to them,” Blinken said.
His comment comes amid tensions between the US and Israel over the humanitarian component of the war.
The United States has backed Israel's refusal for an immediate ceasefire and its military objective of ousting Hamas from Gaza but has been concerned about the high death toll and has pressed for increased humanitarian aid.
The US secured an agreement from Israel on Thursday to allow for humanitarian pauses. This would allow for the flow of basic humanitarian assistance, the ability of Palestinian civilians to flee to safe zones in the South, and for foreign passport holders to exit Gaza.
The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories said Saturday that a humanitarian corridor was open in Gaza from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., allowing for 50,000 Palestinians to head to safety.
Gaza’s border authority announced on Saturday that the Rafah land crossing into Egypt would reopen on Sunday for foreign passport holders.
Evacuations from the Gaza Strip into Egypt for foreign citizens and Palestinians needing urgent medical treatment were suspended on Friday, three Egyptian security sources and a Palestinian official said.
The Palestinian official and an Egyptian medical source said the suspension was due to problems bringing medical evacuees to Rafah from inside Gaza.
On Thursday US special envoy David Satterfield told reporters that the IDF’s operation against Hamas in Gaza was a “difficult campaign,” explaining that “Hamas has structured it to be a campaign that produces civilian casualties.”
“I have to say, for 15, for 16 years, Hamas has deliberately embedded itself in, around, and under many of those humanitarian sites. It increases the complexity of any campaign of this kind enormously,” explained Satterfield.
Still, he stressed, Israel must “conduct the [military] campaign in a manner which minimizes civilian casualties to the maximum extent possible.”
French President Emmanuel Macron told the BBC on Friday that there was no legitimacy for the high Palestinian death toll in Gaza.
“De facto today [Palestinian] civilians are bombed. De facto, babies, ladies, old people are bombed and killed. There is no reason for that and no legitimacy, so we do urge Israel to stop,” Macron stated.
He added, “I call for a ceasefire.”
Macron recalled that he had been one of the first leaders to visit Israel in October after the attack.
“We clearly condemned the terrorist attack and recognized the right of Israel to protect itself and react,” he said. “But the fight against terrorism because it’s led by a democracy should be compliant with… rules of war, and humanitarian international law.”
The Hamas attack “created a situation where everyone was just close to Israel and backing them and sharing the pain and we do share their pain and their willingness to get rid of terrorism,” Macron said.
“We know what terrorism means in France,” Macron stated, but he added that this did not translate into justification for the level of civilian deaths that had occurred during the IDF’s military campaign.
Netanyahu shot back, stating, “The responsibility for any harm to civilians lies with Hamas-ISIS and not with Israel.
“While Israel does everything in its power to avoid harming civilians and urges them to leave the battle areas, Hamas-ISIS is doing all it can to prevent them from moving to safe areas and uses them as human shields,” Netanyahu stated.
“Hamas-ISIS is cruelly holding our people hostage – women, children, the elderly – and thus committing a crime against humanity,” he stressed.
“Hamas-ISIS is using schools, mosques, and hospitals as terrorist command centers.
“The crimes being committed today by Hamas-ISIS in Gaza will be committed tomorrow in Paris, New York, and all over the world.
“The leaders of the world should be condemning Hamas-ISIS, not Israel,” Netanyahu stated.