Netanyahu: US visit was ‘historic turning point’, whole region could be changed

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to Israel on Sunday after his week-long trip to the U.S., highlighting the near complete alignment of the two governments on several issues.

The visit was “a historic turning point for the State of Israel,” Netanyahu declared, adding the meetings with U.S. President Donald Trump brought “considerable achievements that can ensure the security of Israel for generations,” in his opening statement at the government meeting on Sunday evening.

“There are opportunities for possibilities that I think we never dreamed of, or at least a few months ago they did not seem possible – but they are possible. This was a very warm, detailed and purposeful meeting,” he added.

“President Trump commended all of our achievements, especially the breaking of the Iranian axis.”

Talking to Newsmax just before his return home, Netanyahu said that the Iranian system of proxy forces which had increasingly surrounded Israel from several sites “has been broken...we smashed it a lot.”

“So the Iran axis has been broken. Now we have an opportunity to prevent them from getting to nuclear weapons by completing the dismantling of the Hamas axis to bring a different Middle East,” Netanyahu explained, adding that this “opens up the possibility of peace...But to do that, to win the peace, you first have to win the war.”

The prime minister declared that he and Trump agreed that Israel’s war objectives must be completed, including the “elimination of Hamas.”

This constitutes a slight change to the previously stated goals of dismantling the terror group’s military and governmental capabilities.

This statement is also particularly important in the context of the currently ongoing negotiations over the second phase of the ceasefire, which includes an end of the war despite Hamas continuing to rule parts of the Gaza Strip. The negotiations have been increasingly criticized from within the coalition.

Netanyahu added that the other objectives are: “The return of all of our hostages, ensuring that Gaza never again constitutes a threat to Israel, returning all of the residents in both north and south [of Israel], and, of course, preventing Iran from attaining nuclear weapons.”

Regarding Trump’s controversial plan for Gaza, which he had immediately endorsed without explaining its details, the prime minister told Newsmax that this type of “fresh thinking” paved the way to the Abraham Accords during Trump’s first Presidential term.

“As long as Hamas is there, Gaza will revert to the same thing again. Terrorism on their part; we respond. It goes back and forth, back and forth. And, you know, what do you have? Nothing. So we first have to knock out Hamas,” Netanyahu said on Newsmax.

In his speech opening the government meeting, Netanyahu implied that he held out against calls for the Palestinian Authority to take over the Gaza Strip for over year, until now, “Trump presented a different vision for ‘the day after’.”

“President Trump came with a completely different vision, much better for the State of Israel, a revolutionary and creative vision, which we are discussing. He is very determined to carry it out. This also opens many possibilities before us.”

Responding to allegations by Arab and Western leaders that Trump’s plan would constitute ethnic cleansing, Netanyahu told Newsmax, “Remember, Gaza was closed, not by Israel; it was closed by Egypt. You couldn’t leave for years before the war, during the war. It's the only battle zone in the world that is locked.”

“And now the question is, why not let them have a choice? Not forcibly evict them,” he added.

The prime minister also rejected the claims that Trump’s idea would necessitate U.S. boots on the ground, calling them a “misconception that has been foisted on Trump's vision.”

“Give me a break. I mean, we're doing the job. We're doing the heavy lifting,” he stressed. “We don't need any American troops. Nor did President Trump suggest that they do that.”