Netanyahu tells foreign press: Calls for a ceasefire are calls for Israel to surrender
The Times of IsraelOct 30, 2023
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected calls for a cease-fire with Hamas on Monday. Comparing the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas to the Pearl Harbor and Sept. 11 attacks on the US, Netanyahu said Israel was justified in retaliating, stating that it would wage war against Hamas "until victory."
"Calls for a cease-fire are calls for Israel to surrender to Hamas, to surrender to terrorism, to surrender to barbarism. That will not happen," Netanyahu said. He added: "The Bible says that there is a time for peace and a time for war. This is a time for war. A war for our common future. Today we draw a line between the forces of civilization and the forces of barbarism. It is a time for everyone to decide where they stand."
Calls for a cease-fire are calls for Israel to surrender to Hamas. Israel will never surrender to Hamas after what it did on Oct. 7. In fact, the Hamas terror organization needs to be eradicated so it can never commit these types of atrocities again.
After 23 days of unrelenting Israeli airstrikes — which Gaza has had to endure under an Israeli blockade that's left it without food, clean drinking water, medicine, and electricity — millions of people are on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe. A cease-fire is needed immediately.
There's a 50% chance that Israel will lift the blockade on electricity, food, gasoline, and medicine in Gaza by December 2023, according to the Metaculus prediction community.