Netanyahu dodges question about funds to Hamas: "We mowed down but we didn't uproot them, now we are repairing."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday rejected claims that he led a policy to contain the Hamas terror group, dodging a question about why he transferred funds to the terrorist organization for years.
"The state was not to contain Hamas or strengthen it," Netanyahu said at a press conference alongside Defense Minister Yoav Galant and Minister Benny Gantz, "but to strike it, crush it, mow it down. We mowed them down in four operations in Gaza, but we didn't uproot them. So now we fix. We will do this uprooting once and for all."
Press Conference/Screenshot, GPO
During the press conference, Netanyahu was asked to address the change in French President Emmanuel Macron's approach to the Gaza Strip, after the latter said last night that "Israel must stop killing babies and women in Gaza." "Netanyahu made a serious mistake, factually and morally," Netanyahu declared, "The one who fired at the buffer zones was not Israel, but Hamas. The one who uses Gazan civilians as human shields is Hamas. The responsibility that should be directed to harm to civilians is not to Israel, but to Hamas."
Asked why he had not yet met with all the families of abductees held in the Gaza Strip, Netanyahu replied that "I met with some of the families three times. I wage the war around the clock. I sleep a few hours a night, and I'm fully mobilized for one mission – to achieve victory." Netanyahu added that he meets with as much as possible, it is impossible to meet with everyone. Maybe after the war, after we bring them back."
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Netanyahu on the sidelines, Gantz and Galant hugging/Government Press Office, Mark Israel Salem
During the press conference, Minister Benny Gantz answered a question about his exit point from the government, which he joined about a month ago in light of the state of emergency. "When ten members of my family were drafted into the campaign on Black Saturday, I understood that my place is within the government," he replied, adding with a hint: "I am aware of all kinds of exercises and games in all kinds of places, which have no place at the moment, but the importance of fighting our enemies is higher."
At the end of the tripartite press conference held by the Prime Minister, Defense Minister and Gantz, the camera lens captured a picture reflecting the balance of power within the War Cabinet. While Galant and Gantz continued to talk for long seconds and held each other, Prime Minister Netanyahu walked off the stage alone. The picture reflects the cold relations between Netanyahu and Galant, which have been tense since before the war over Galant's dismissal following his warnings about the consequences of the legal revolution – at a time when the defense minister and his predecessor showed friendship and closeness.
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- Benny Gantz
- Benjamin Netanyahu
- Yoav Galant
- Gaza War
- Iron Sword War