Netanyahu: ‘Pressures won’t stop us, Israel will finish the job in Rafah’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu berated Israel’s allies, first and foremost the United States, for pressuring it to hold off on the planned ground offensive into Rafah. He also condemned the mounting criticism being leveled at Israel, highlighting concerns about civilian harm and lack of aid to the Gaza Strip.

In his unusually candid remarks delivered during a televised speech to AIPAC delegates gathered in Washington, Netanyahu continued the ongoing public rift between the White House and Jerusalem over Israel’s conduct in the Gaza War.

“To our friends in the international community, I say this: You cannot say you support Israel's right to exist and to defend itself and then oppose Israel when it exercises that right,” Netanyahu charged.

“You cannot say you support Israel's goal of destroying Hamas and then oppose Israel when it takes the actions necessary to achieve that goal. You cannot say that you oppose Hamas's strategy of using civilians as human shields and then blame Israel for the civilian casualties that result from this Hamas cynical strategy.”

In an interview last Sunday, U.S. President Joe Biden told MSNBC: “You cannot have another 30,000 Palestinians dead as a consequence of going after them [Hamas],” and said Netanyahu was “hurting Israel more than helping Israel.”

In his AIPAC speech, Netanyahu thanked Biden and his administration for their support but also stressed: “None of these pressures will stop us. Israel's very future, its very survival is at stake. We have no other option but total victory.”

Seemingly responding directly to the comments made by Biden and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, Netanyahu dismissed the idea that his policies were contrary to Israeli public opinion.

“The truth of the matter is that the people of Israel overwhelmingly support the policies set forth by myself and my government. They overwhelmingly support the need for total victory… They overwhelmingly oppose the idea of having a Palestinian state rammed down our throat.”

Netanyahu also addressed the mounting international pressure for Israel Defense Forces to hold off on the planned ground incursion into the town of Rafah, Hamas’ last major stronghold in the Gaza Strip.

“To win this war, we must destroy the remaining Hamas battalions in Rafah,” Netanyahu reiterated. “If not, Hamas will regroup, rearm and reconquer Gaza and then we're back to square one. And that's an intolerable threat that we cannot accept.”

“We will destroy Hamas, free our hostages and ensure that Gaza doesn't ever pose a threat to Israel again,” the prime minister vowed.

“For Israel, every civilian death is a tragedy. For Hamas, every civilian death is a strategy. So it is wrong and immoral to hold Israel to a standard for avoiding civilian casualties that no other country on earth is held to.”