Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed President Joe Biden in an interview over the weekend after Biden rebuked Israel’s military strategy to eradicate Hamas from inside Gaza.
During an interview with MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart, Biden said that Netanyahu “must pay more attention to the innocent lives be lost as a consequence of the actions taken.”
Biden’s remarks come after Hamas murdered 1,200 people inside Israel during its October 7 massacre, wounded thousands more, took hundreds hostage, and unleashed a campaign of violent rape against Jewish women.
“He’s hurting, in my view, he’s hurting Israel more than helping Israel by making the rest of the world, it’s contrary to what Israel stands for,” Biden said. “And I think it’s a big mistake. So I want to see a ceasefire. And I’m starting with a major, major exchange of prisoners for a six week period.”
Netanyahu responded: “Well I don’t know exactly what the president meant, but if he meant by that that I’m pursuing private policies against the majority, the wish of the majority of Israelis and that this is hurting the interests of Israel, then he’s wrong on both counts.”
“Number one, these are not my private policies only,” Netanyahu continued. “They’re policies supported by the overwhelming majority of the Israelis. They support the action that we’re taking to destroy the remaining terrorist battalions of Hamas. They say that once we destroy Hamas, the last thing we should do is put in Gaza, in charge of Gaza, the Palestinian Authority that educates its children towards terrorism and pays for terrorism.”
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“And they also support my position that says that we should resoundingly reject the attempt to ram down our throats a Palestinian state,” he continued. “That is something that they agree on and it’s something that I think is also for the interest of Israel. Because the majority of Israelis understand that if we don’t do this, what we’ll have is a repetition of the October 7th massacre, which is bad for Israel, bad for the Palestinians, bad for the future of peace in the Middle East.”
“So, the attempt to say that my policies are my private policies that are not supported by most Israelis is false,” he concluded. “The vast majority are united as never before and they understand what’s for Israel.”
WATCH:
#Breaking: Netanyahu’s response to Biden: “I don't know exactly what the president meant, but if he meant that I'm pursuing private policies against the wish of the majority of Israelis and that this is hurting the interest of Israel, then he's wrong on both counts … the attempt… pic.twitter.com/DMfpK8dfCZ
— נריה קראוס Neria Kraus (@NeriaKraus) March 10, 2024