There is no alternative to total victory over Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the nation in a televised press briefing on Saturday evening.
Noting the painful losses of many IDF soldiers on the battlefield last week, Netanyahu eulogized them and vowed that the nation would reach all its war goals in their memory.
Israel's war goals include the destruction of Hamas, bringing all the hostages home, and ensuring that Gaza does not again constitute a threat to Israel, he said.
Netanyahu, speaking on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, noted that there was “no greater absurdity” than for the State of Israel to be accused of genocide.
His comments were directed toward the International Court of Justice (ICJ) decision on Friday to impose several measures on Israel in response to the lawsuit leveled by South Africa.
The fact that ICJ agreed to even hear the case, Netanyahu said, “proves that many in the world have not learned a thing from the Holocaust.”
“We will defend ourselves by ourselves,” the prime minister said.
Netanyahu then held up an Arabic volume of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler’s book “Mein Kampf,” which he said IDF troops had found in Gaza, alongside much other antisemitic and Nazi literature. He said Hamas terrorists are the new Nazis.
“This is their education,” he added, explaining that after the war, Israel would not allow anybody in Gaza to indoctrinate children with the destruction of Israel.
Amid increasing pressure from the U.S. to wind down at least the more intensive phases of the war in Gaza, Netanyahu stressed that “the work has to be completed.”
To that end, he announced that Israel's ministries of defense and finance were ordered to create an “unprecedented” multi-year plan to strengthen the country’s security industry with massive investments.
“We will win a complete victory,” Netanyahu added.
The All Israel News Staff is a team of journalists in Israel.