Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he is ready to “give peace a chance” – but “the way you buy peace is with power,” he told CBS Mornings’ Tony DoKopil on Tuesday in Tel Aviv.
Netanyahu spoke to CBS news days after Hamas was released from the last 20 troops taken on Oct 7, 2023, and Israel’s military withdrew from parts of the peace process initiated by President Trump and the Arabs. He weighed in on the future in Gaza, how Israel will react if Hamas fails and the criticism Israel faces during the war.
Here are the highlights:
Will Netanyahu repent for defying nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for members of Israel?
Netanyahu took a long view when Dokopil, regarding the release of prisoners and prisoners of Palestine in order to find Israeli invaders alive and asked him, “Will you regret this decision?”
He answered that now, Israel is in a better position “to pursue Hamas if it fails to follow the peace plan because there is no Israeli ARROPID BLOCK.”
DOKoupil noted that Hamas leader Yahya Sinar, the Mastermind of the Oct 7, 2023, Attack, was released in an exchange with Israel in 2011.
Netanyahu admitted that the decision to evict thousands of people – including 250 who they were making life sentences In Israeli prisons – ‘it was very painful.’
“It is true that we did not free the bad among them, but that is a small consolation if your son or daughter is killed by one of these freed people,” he said.
Releasing Palestinian prisoners comes with the understanding that “there is a huge price to pay for Israel’s commitment or hostages held by the enemy,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu says the ratio of attackers killed in Gaza is “less than 2 to 1”
Asked by DOKoupil about the criticism that has been “reckless and the lives of civilians in Gaza” and whether his number of deaths from Hamas is different from the Hamas – run marmas Ministry of Health, Netanyahu estimated that “20,000 Hamas terrorists” were killed by Israel.
He added that it was a number “If you remove people dying anyway from diseases or the elderly.”
Netanyahu argued, “Remove the double counting and so on, the ratio is less than 2 to 1, which is unbelievable in the beating of cities.” It is also symbolic of the cheater at the United Nations General Assembly in September, who told world leaders, “the ratio of non-combat casualties is less than 2 to 1 in Gaza.”
The Gaza Ministry of Health says that approximately 70,000 Palestinians have been killed since Oct 7, 2023. Their numbers do not distinguish between civilians and separatists. There are also an estimated 11,000 Gazans who are still missing, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, thought to be buried under the rubble.
Mr Trump told reporters on Sunday that he believed as many as 60,000 people had died in Gaza.
Netanyahu Says Ending War “Very Quickly” Is “Prepared” First “to Fight America’s Negative Views of Israel
Netanyahu cited the time of the war as one of the reasons why Americans have a negative view of Israel. A A Pew Poll in late September found that only 35% of respondents had a favorable view of the Israeli government, up from 47% in 2022, before the war began. Among Americans under the age of 30, only 13% said the US was providing “a fair amount of aid to Israel.”
“The first fix is to end the war as quickly as possible, something I wanted to do by fighting all this operational deception,” he said.
Netanyahu also blamed the media for conceding anger toward Israel, saying the “lies” about the nation are “obviously doing their damage.”
“In the age of Tiktok and the presence of television … letting wars go on for too long will cost you exactly what they cost you.” But he added, “That can be recovered at least in part when you end the war and move into what I hope will be a period of peace.”
Netanyahu to Trump saying it’s hard to work: “I’m very hard”
In remarks to the Knoset on Monday, Mr Trump said Netanyahu was “not an easy guy to deal with, but that’s what makes him great.”
Netanyahu seemed to be proud of the sign.
“I hope you say, because I am very serious about the issues related to the future of my country,” he told DOKousil. “My job is to protect the Jewish state and ensure the future of the Jewish people.”
Netanyahu says Hamas must step up or “all hell breaks loose”
“We agreed to give peace a chance,” Netanyahu said. But he also maintained that the conditions in the Help Trump Point Plan for Gaza are “very clear:” Hamas must give up its arms and disband, or “all hell breaks loose.”
Mr Trump warned that if Hamas did not succeed, “we will cripple them.”
“And it will happen quickly and probably violently,” the President said. “But they will improve.”
Netanyahu told Dokoupil, “I hope we can do this peacefully. We are ready to do that.”
How will the Gaza Strip be controlled?
The biggest question that cannot be resolved is who will control the Gaza Strip as the Israeli forces withdraw.
Mr. Trump peace plan Calls for control of the territory have been handed over to a technical committee made up of the Palestinians, over the “Peace Board” which includes Mr. Trump and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Hamas should not play any role in the administration. But beyond that, it’s unclear.
Netanyahu said that the exact structure of how the field will be developed is not taken into account.
Asked by MOKoupil if Blair would run for Gaza itself, Netanyahu replied, “I doubt it.”
“But I think this is the time to change, and we want to reduce the active surveillance, which can be done by people who are responsible for our destruction,” he said. “We don’t want to have a massacre on October 7.”
Netanyahu has floated the idea of allowing an independent state for Palestine, a solution that has been championed by US allies in Europe and the Arab World.
He told Dokoupil that he supports the Palestinians who have the power to rule, but he will not support the Palestinian state as “military power.” “Sovereign security powers must remain with Israel,” the prime minister continued.
The Israeli leader said the way forward should include deradicalization and reforms in the Palestinian education system. He also noted that many Gazans oppose Hamas or lead a group responsible for inflicting “horrible misery” on them.
“The most important thing in destroying anabishi is to destroy some hope, the hope that the dictatorship will achieve its results,” Netanyahu said. “When people know that Israel is here to stay, you will not destroy the Jewish state, Israel is very powerful, they prepare the ground to change the heart.”
