31 October,2023 03:10 PM IST | Tel Aviv | ANI
Benjamin Netanyahu
On Monday night Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a press conference in English for the foreign media in which he said that Israel's war in Gaza is a fight for civilization and against barbarism. The Prime Minister had a determined demeanour about him, was stern and wore the black dress shirt that has become his "uniform" since the attacks of October 7, replacing his usual suit and tie.
Netanyahu said that people believed the world had progressed to a point where such barbarism committed by Hamas against innocent civilians would no longer occur. But the massacre perpetrated by Hamas proved this wrong.
The photogallery here
"The horrors that Hamas perpetrated on October 7 remind us that we will not realize the promise of a better future unless we the civilised world are willing to fight the barbarians," he said. The barbarians want to "usher in a world of fear and darkness," he said. So, now the world must decide whether it stands with Israel in its fight against such barbarism, or with Hamas.
"Israel did not start this war, Israel did not want this war, but Israel will win this war," declared the Prime Minister. He also described how children and parents were murdered in front of one another by Hamas on October 7th, among other things, and that the terrorists committed the worst crimes perpetrated against Jews since the Holocaust.
Netanyahu went on to speak of an axis of terror led by Iran that Israel is fighting. This, he said, includes Hamas, Hezbollah and others and that these are the "enemies of civilization itself."
On criticisms that Israel's response to the Hamas attack is also killing Palestinian civilians in Gaza, the Prime Minister demanded that the world recognize the difference between what Israel is doing and what Hamas does deliberately to innocents. Hamas uses its own people as human shields if the world lets them get away with this it will continue to do so. Israel is doing everything to get Palestinian civilians out of harm's way, he explained, and Hamas is doing everything to keep those people in harm's way.
In other words, there is a clear moral distinction between Israel and the IDF on one side and Hamas on the other. The IDF works to limit civilian casualties while Hamas wants to maximize them.
The IDF hits terrorists, their weaponry on the ground and their bases. But Hamas deliberately placed these things among residential neighbourhoods, under hospitals and even mosques, and so IDF attacks do lead to civilian casualties. Hamas, on the other hand, targets Israeli civilians deliberately and indiscriminately.
As to calls for a cease-fire "just as the United States would not agree to a cease-fire after the bombing of Pearl Harbor or after the terrorist attack of 9/11, Israel will not agree to a cessation of hostilities with Hamas after the horrific attacks of October 11." "Calls for a cease-fire are calls for Israel to surrender to Hamas," he said.
Netanyahu declared that all civilized nations in the world must stand alongside Israel in its fight against barbarism and that Israel's fight is their fight too. When asked if he planned to resign from office, Netanyahu said the only thing he planned to resign was Hamas.
