‘The survival of Israel and the future of the Middle East depend on the victory over Hamas,’ says Prime Minister Netanyahu.
By David Rosenberg, World Israel News
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with leaders from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem Monday, warning that the future of the State of Israel and the Middle East as a whole could be in jeopardy if Israel fails to thoroughly defeat the Hamas terror organization.
AIPAC President Michael Tuchin led a delegation to Jerusalem Monday, meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu, who briefed them on the fighting in Gaza, and answered their questions regarding the ongoing operation against Hamas.
“How do we define victory? We define it as the destruction of Hamas’s military and governing capabilities, as the return of the hostages, which we’re working right now, and also as preventing the return, Gaza from becoming a threat to Israel at any time in the future,” Netanyahu told the AIPAC leaders.
Netanyahu emphasized that not only is the current conflict between Israel and Iranian proxies – including Hamas and Hezbollah – critical for Israel’s survival, the outcome of the current war will also have major ramifications for the United States and its allies around the world.
“If we achieve these goals, then we will also deliver a stinging blow to the Iran terror axis, which is behind everything that we’re seeing here today.”
“That is something that we all have to understand, that this is not just Israel’s battle. It is a battle for our future, but it’s also the battle for the victory of the Israel-America-moderate Arab axis against the Iran axis.”
The prime minister warned that should Hamas be allowed to remain intact in Gaza, it would constitute “a defeat,” and presage “terrible things for our future.”
“Unless we have that victory that I talked about, then we have a defeat. A defeat spells terrible things for our future and for the future of the Middle East and beyond the Middle East.”
Netanyahu said the U.S., Israel, and moderate Arab states are engaged in a “war of civilization against barbarism,” against “those who want to bring back the Middle East to the Middle Ages.”
Turning to the growing rift between his government and the Biden administration, Netanyahu dismissed claims by top Democrats – including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer – that his policies are out of touch with the Israeli electorate.
“The picture that is presented in the last few days and weeks in the United States is completely different from what I described.”
“You can go into any cab, go into a mall, walk down the street and talk to people. The great majority will tell you that they support what I just said, the goals that the government has set.”
“That’s not the description you have an outlier prime minister who put some extreme fringe groups, and that’s what’s driving the policy. False. I would say deliberately false. They know it’s false. But that falsehood is perpetrated and it’s wrong.”
“There is unity among the people to achieve victory along the lines that I described. It is within reach and we’re going to do it. I’ve said this to the president.”