Prime Minister talks about the effect that changing US support had on Israel’s war effort
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at a ceremony for military combat officers at an army base near Mitzpe Ramon, Israel, October 31, 2024. REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a recent interview with Wall Street Journal editorial writer Elliot Kaufman, took a firm stance regarding the situation in Gaza.
“I’m not going to agree to end the war before we remove Hamas,” Netanyahu said. “We’re not going to leave them in power in Gaza, 30 miles from Tel Aviv. It’s not going to happen.”
Netanyahu was responding to a question regarding the hostage deal being currently discussed. He is willing to discuss a temporary ceasefire but remains firmly committed to removing Hamas from Gaza.
During the interview, Netanyahu also talked about the early days of the war, claiming that military leaders wanted to pause the fighting in Gaza and target Hezbollah in Lebanon, after the terror group joined the war on October 8.
According to Netanyahu, “the defense minister and the military chiefs suggested we go after Lebanon. That is, shift the whole war north, against Hezbollah, and leave Hamas intact in the south.”
Netanyahu says he told the leaders that “we shouldn’t conduct a two-front war. One massive front at a time.”
The prime minister also praised U.S. President Joe Biden for visiting Israel on October 18, 2023.
“It’s the first time a U.S. president came to Israel at a time of war,” Netanyahu said, “and he sent two carrier battle groups, which was important to stabilize the northern front.”
This U.S. support enabled Israel to keep its initial focus on Hamas in Gaza. However, Netanyahu also had to confront U.S. opposition to how Israel wanted to fight the war.
He claimed that the U.S. wanted Israel to only engage in air campaigns against Hamas, avoiding a ground campaign due the “intense tunnel warfare” the IDF was expected to encounter.
“Nobody had ever fought with such intense tunnel warfare in such a dense urban area,” Netanyahu stated.
However, he said that Israel knew the limitations of an air campaign.
“From the air, you can mow the lawn, he said, referring to a common IDF idiom for security operations in Gaza over the years. “You can’t pull out the weeds. We’re here to uproot Hamas—not to deliver deterrent blows, but to destroy it.”
Netanyahu also said the firm U.S. support along with the IDF ground campaign into Gaza is what provoked Hamas to agree to the first hostage release ceasefire deal.
“Hamas saw us moving, moving, moving with American support,” he remarked. However, the rapid loss of unconditional support from the U.S., and the pressure from international bodies, changed the situation.
After the war restarted, when Hamas refused to release any more hostages and resumed firing rockets at Israel, “they (the US) began to turn on us in the media and in the West,” Netanyahu stated.
Netanyahu also acknowledged the impact of the de facto U.S. arms embargo.
“The U.S. withheld critical weapons,” he noted. However, the prime minister said he understands the pressure Biden faced from many in his own party.
“It’s not easy to be president, let’s face it, with these very radical fringes in his party. It wasn’t easy to do what Mr. Biden did,” he told the WSJ.
Netanyahu spoke highly of President-elect Donald Trump, saying, “President Trump has supported Israel throughout this war.”
He also hopes that Trump’s ultimatum to Hamas will help bring about a hostage release.
“The threat to Hamas can only help. He places the onus squarely on Hamas and tells them there will be consequences.”
Exposed: Humanitarian aid goes to waste because of the aid organizations
Keshet 12 News report exposes how thousands of tons of food and humanitarian equipment meant for Gaza go to waste because of the aid organizations.
Israel National News
Israel National News
Dec 22, 2024, 11:11 PM (GMT+2)
humanitarian aid
Gaza aid
Keshet 12 News
Today’s Aritz Sheva reports a previously unreported major scandal concerning the behavior of the “international aid organizations” and the “international community” in Gaza.The internaional aid organizations have the past year or more have been dumping huge quantities of aid–food clothing, building materials, everything–just on the Gaza side of the Israel-Gaza border–and then abandoning allof these supplies, making no effort to distribute them to be the people of Gaza. The abandoned aid supplies just piles up in huge quantities on the Gaza border and never reaches the people whom it is supposed to help/ The only aid that does get distrubuted are the supplies that somehow get into Gaza further than the border are stolen by Hamas, who use the aid to supply their “fighters” and continue the war. The civilians for whom the aid is supposed to help get nothing. Most is simply abandoned in huge depots on the Israel-Gaza border. The small amount that does manage to get into Gaza communities is nearly all stolen by Hamas. So much for the “international community” and the US putting so much pressure on Israel to allow “humanitarian aid” to Gaza.