Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected international pressure for military action in Gaza on Sunday, speaking at Yad Vashem and insisting on Israel’s right to fight its “genocidal enemies.”
Nearly seven months into the war, Mr Netanyahu remains steadfast in his goal of destroying Hamas. That, coupled with Netanyahu’s insistence on sending troops to Rafah, the southernmost city in the Gaza Strip, has complicated efforts to end the fighting and raised concerns about the future of hostages held by Hamas.
But Mr Netanyahu remains defiant.
on Sunday, He spoke at the Holocaust Memorial Museum, Israel’s Yad Vashem memorial in Jerusalem to mark National Holocaust Remembrance Day. He said Hamas’s attack on October 7 was not a “massacre” – not because Hamas had no intention of destroying Israel, but because it was incapable of doing so. Israeli authorities said about 1,200 people were killed that day and more than 200 were taken hostage. Mr Netanyahu said Hamas’s intentions were the same as those of the Nazis.
in his speechIn the speech, which lasted about 15 minutes and was mostly in Hebrew, Mr. Netanyahu denied accusations that Israel was committing genocide in the Gaza Strip. Gaza authorities say Israeli forces have killed more than 34,000 people since the war began, many of them women and children, although the statistics do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Netanyahu said the Israeli military had made every effort to avoid harming civilians and allowed aid to flow through Gaza to avoid a humanitarian crisis. A United Nations official recently said that parts of Gaza were experiencing “general famine“.
Mr. Netanyahu made a point of saying a few words to the international community in English. He invoked the Holocaust to defend Israel’s right to self-defense, with or without international support.
“If Israel is forced to isolate, Israel will be alone,” he said. “But we know we are not alone, as countless decent people around the world support our just cause. I say to you, we will defeat our genocidal enemies. Now never again!”
His speech on Monday morning came after the Israeli military sent its strongest signal yet that it would invade Rafah and asked tens of thousands of Gazans to evacuate the city.
