After speaking with the president of the Red Cross on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed 80 ambassadors of countries from around the world, asking them to "support Israel's demand for the immediate release of the abductees and put pressure on Qatar."
PM Netanyahu to Ambassadors - "Support the Immediate Release of the Abductees and Put Pressure on Qatar" Video: Omer Meron /GPO, Sound: Ben Peretz /GPO
The meeting with the ambassadors took place today at the Kirya in Tel Aviv. They expressed their support for Israel and noted that they would act, each in his own country, that what happened here on October 7 will never be forgotten.
"What we are seeing is a broader struggle between civilization and barbarism. Barbarism is led by an Iranian-led axis of terror, which includes Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis and their other henchmen," Netanyahu told foreign diplomats.
"They want to bring the Middle East and the entire world back to a dark time. They seek to torpedo any progress toward peace, and the progress and promise we had in the growing peace agreements with our Arab neighbors. If they are not defeated, they will derail the process and they will endanger the entire Middle East. If the Middle East falls into the hands of the axis of terror, Europe will be next and no one will be safe. This is not a local struggle, it is a global struggle. The greatest need is to defeat this axis."
Netanyahu at a meeting with the ambassadors in the Kirya. "This is not a local struggle, this is a global struggle. The greatest need is to defeat the axis of terror", Photo: Amos Ben Gresham/GPO
Netanyahu also told the ambassadors, calling for support and legitimacy from their direction, that "there is no substitute for victory. We will defeat Hamas and dismantle it. We will offer the citizens of Gaza and all the peoples of the Middle East a real future, a future of promise and hope. But to do that, we must win. We have the will and we have the power to achieve it. We will win. We believe that all the forces of civilization should support us in this effort, because this struggle is your struggle, and our victory is your victory."
In response to a question about how to help Israel, the Prime Minister said: "First, to stand with Israel. All civilized countries must stand with Israel, because this is a common struggle for all of us. As I said, our struggle is your struggle, and our victory is your victory."
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Regarding his conversation with the president of the Red Cross, Netanyahu said: "I spoke yesterday with the president and asked her to be personally involved in the effort that we have been talking about with the Red Cross since the first day of the war. This is a demand for the immediate and unconditional release of the abductees, access to the abductees and information about the abductees – things that international humanitarian law demands, and Hamas violates these as well."
He told the ambassadors: "You need to support this demand and demand it yourself every day. We want the immediate unconditional release of the abductees. We want the information about them. We want the Red Cross to have access to them."
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