Netanyahu: Protesters demanding end to Gaza war guarantee another Oct. 7

Netanyahu says premature end to war without destruction of Hamas would ensure future Oct. 7-style massacres.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lashed out Sunday afternoon at left-wing protesters demanding an end to the war in Gaza, after dozens were arrested at road-blocking demonstrations across the country.

Critics of the Netanyahu government on Sunday launched a series of protests blocking major roads and intersections across Israel, in conjunction with a nationwide strike dubbed by organizers as the “People’s Strike.”

At least 38 people were arrested at the road-blocking protests, which called for an immediate end to the war in Gaza and the release of the remaining 50 hostages, 20 of whom are believed to still be alive.

Speaking at the opening of the weekly government meeting on Sunday, Netanyahu excoriated the protesters, saying calls to end the war prematurely and without the destruction of Hamas emboldened the terrorist group and made it more difficult to secure the hostages’ return.

In addition, Netanyahu said that an end to hostilities at this point, without the removal of Hamas, would “ensure” a repeat of the massacres of October 7, 2023.

“Those who are calling for an end to the war today without defeating Hamas, are not only hardening Hamas’s stance and pushing off the release of our hostages, they are also ensuring that the horrors of October 7 will recur again and again, and that our sons and daughters will need to fight again and again in an endless war,” Netanyahu said.

“Therefore, both to advance the release of our hostages and to ensure that Gaza will never again constitute a threat to Israel, we must complete the work and defeat Hamas.

“Our ongoing security control in the Strip is only one of our conditions for concluding the war, conditions that Hamas is refusing to accept,” he continued.

“We insist that not only must Hamas be disarmed, but also that Israel will enforce the demilitarization of the Strip over time by continuous action against any attempt at rearmament and reorganization by any terrorist element whatsoever.

“Hamas is demanding the complete opposite. It wants us to completely leave the entire Strip, from north to south, including the Philadelphi Corridor that prevents smuggling and the security perimeter that protects our communities.

“This way it would be able to reorganize, rearm and attack us again. Hamas would again be able to come in its pickup trucks and with its monstrous murderers up to the fence and threaten Nir Oz, Kisufim and Sderot all over again.”

Sunday’s protests were organized following the decision last week by the Israeli cabinet to expand the war in Gaza, including the takeover of Gaza City.

Netanyahu defended the decision Sunday, adding that his government is “determined to implement it.”