WhatsappPrime Minister Netanyahu gave a fiery speech last night, calling for national unity as Israel continues to close in on destroying Hamas and dismantling Iran’s Ring of Fire once and for all.
Prime Minister Netanyahu said the following last night:
”Dear citizens of Israel,
At the beginning of my remarks, I would like to send – for my wife and I, and I am certain, for all of us – heartfelt condolences to the family of Warrant Officer G’haleb Nasser, of blessed memory, who fell today in the Gaza Strip.The entire people of Israel are mourning together with the dear family. The entire people of Israel salute him for his heroism.
I send my best wishes for a complete and swift recovery to the fighting men and women who were wounded in the same battle. I stand by the fighters and commanders. I have directed the IDF to respond vigorously and to further increase the pressure on Hamas.
We are in the redemption war, a war on seven fronts. This war has had very heavy costs because every such loss is a world unto itself. But, as a people that treasures life, we have no choice but to continue and to fight for our very existence – until victory.
Citizens of Israel, as your Prime Minister, I will not surrender.
I will not surrender to the murderers who perpetrated the most terrible massacre of the Jewish People since the Holocaust because such a surrender would endanger the security of the state and would endanger you. We are in a decisive stage of the campaign, and this stage calls for patience and determination in order to win.
If we surrender to the diktat of Hamas now, all of the great achievements that we have made thanks to our fighters, our fallen and our wounded heroes, all of these achievements will simply have been for naught. Since the start of the war, we have heard calls for its conclusion – for its conclusion by surrender. These calls have increased of late.
Were I to have given in to these calls: We would not have entered Rafah. We would not have seized the Philadelphi corridor. We would not have carried out the pagers operation. We would not have eliminated Sinwar, Deif, Haniyeh or Nasrallah. We would not have created the conditions for the fall of the Assad regime and a harsh blow to the Iranian axis. We would not have changed the face of the Middle East.
We would have simply continued to live under an existential danger. Therefore, I would like say a few words to you about Iran: I am committed to preventing Iran from having nuclear weapons. I will not give in on this; neither will I slacken or retreat on this, not even a millimeter.
But the amusing thing is to listen to the criticism being voiced by those who opposed the many actions I have led over the years in order to strike the Iranian nuclear program and delay it.
Without these actions, Iran would have already had nuclear weapons 10 years ago. But many in this group who are talking today have systematically opposed every activity that I have done and the aggressive policy that I have led.
Hypocrisy apparently knows no bounds.
Regarding Iran’s proxy in Gaza, if we do not complete the destruction of Hamas’s military and governing capabilities, the next October 7 and the next abductions are only a question of time. Hamas says that they will do it. They intend to do it and they are working on it.
Leaving the Hamas regime in place in Gaza would be a huge defeat for Israel and a huge victory for Iran. This weekend, Hamas again rejected a proposal that could have led to the release of half of the remaining living hostages who are still in Gaza and the return of many of the deceased.
Hamas is demanding an end to the war and that its regime be left in place. It is also demanding a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the rehabilitation of Gaza with the influx of vast capital that will allow it to rearm and prepare attacks on us again.
An end to the war on these conditions of surrender would send a message to all enemies of Israel that by taking Israelis hostage it is possible to bring the State of Israel to its knees and defeat it.
It would also be the lethal message that terrorism pays, which would harm the security of the entire free world. Of course, under these conditions, the important vision of President Trump would be unable to be realized – the vision that will change the face of Gaza once and for all, and enable our country to live in security.
Thus, I reiterate: We will not conclude the war of redemption before we destroy Hamas in Gaza, return all of our hostages and ensure that the Gaza Strip will never again constitute a threat to Israel.
Those elements in Israel who are calling so irresponsibly for the end to the war under Hamas’s terms of surrender – what are they doing? They are echoing Hamas propaganda word for word. They are fueling the brutal psychological warfare that it is waging against us and against the families, and they are pushing off the release of our hostages, not making it closer. They are leaving them with Hamas for longer.
Hamas’s surrender terms that it has proposed are not new. It demands them time and again in every release deal, but what responsible Israeli leader could accept them after October 7? Certainly not me. I am certain that you wouldn’t either.
Those among us who are calling on us to surrender to Hamas diktat are telling us:
‘You will capitulate now. You will leave Gaza and the Philadelphi corridor. You will lift up Hamas and ensure that you will not go back to fighting, and after Hamas will return all of the hostages – you will go back to fighting.’
The biggest absurdity – the biggest – is that they are openly saying this in the studios while Hamas is watching them. Do you understand? They are, in effect, telling us – ‘Tell Hamas: We are announcing to you that we are lying to you – and you will agree to this.’
Hamas may be a bunch of abhorrent murderers but they are not stupid. They are demanding restrictive international guarantees that do not enable the illusion of ‘the deception’ that all of the ‘experts’ are offering us themselves in the studios. They have no idea how the international system works.
Nobody, certainly not the US, or China, or Russia, or other members of the Security Council – nobody would cooperate with such a deception, which would make returning to the war impossible. We would have no legitimacy for doing so.
Remember how quickly Israel lost the international legitimacy for the most just war in our history, and this after the Hamas monsters murdered over 1,200 of our citizens in a single day and abducted over 250 of them.
The wheel rolled back on us very quickly. The diplomatic pressure was directed at us. We were subjected to an arms embargo from our good friends as well, and we are also currently dealing with accusations of genocide in the international arena.
Then I would like to make it clear: There is no fake commitment. If we promise not to fight, we will be unable to return to fighting in Gaza.
As a condition for ending the war, Hamas is demanding a complete IDF withdrawal from the Strip, including from the Philadelphi corridor and the security zone that protects the residents of Israel from Hamas terrorism.
I would like to ask you: Have our fighters fought in vain? Have our heroes fallen and been wounded in vain?
In both Lebanon and Syria as well, we established security zones to protect the residents of the north. The significance of a withdrawal from the Gaza Strip is that within a short time, Hamas would rehabilitate its terrorist army and it would be able to again perpetrate mass abductions and an additional massacre of Israeli citizens.
My obligation as Prime Minister is to prevent this – and I will prevent this.
I believe that it is possible to return our hostages without surrendering to Hamas’s diktat. This is how I have acted until now. You know that at one of the first Security Cabinet meetings of the war, perhaps the first, a very senior security establishment official said that we would have to get used to the fact that perhaps we would not succeed in returning even one hostage.
I believed otherwise. I believed that the combination of military pressure and diplomatic pressure could lead to the release of hostages. Many did not believe this but as of today we have returned 196 hostages, 147 alive. Twenty-four living hostages and 35 deceased hostages are still being held in Gaza. The mission has yet to be completed and I intend to complete it without surrendering to Hamas.
Since the outbreak of the war, including in recent days, my wife and I have met and talked with many of the families of the hostages. We will continue to meet them all, just as we have been doing since the start of the war.
I meet the people. I understand the torment of the dear families, of the mothers and fathers, and brothers and sisters, and the wives. I feel their immense pain. I hear the cry of their hearts.
We will increase the pressure on Hamas until we achieve all of the objectives of the war. I again reiterate: We will not give up on even one hostage, living or deceased. We are determined to return them all home.
Citizens of Israel, we are in the midst of an unprecedented multi-front war. Thanks to the heroism of our brave fighters, the great spirit of our people and the vigorous policy of the government that I have led, we have made great achievements. But the missions have yet to be completed, and we are determined to complete them.
Upon the conclusion of the festival of freedom and the transition to Maimouna, and at the start of the days of remembrance and independence that unite our people, I say: Great challenges are yet before us – and we will be equal to them because we will do so together. We will do so with determination, strength, faith and the great spirit that beats in the heart of our people.
Together we will stand. Together we will fight and with G-d’s help, together we will win.”
