It’s ‘battle of civilizations’: Netanyahu

WASHINGTON: Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in an article that appeared in the Wall Street Journal, termed the war on Palestinians a “battle of civilizations”. 

Terming Hamas as barbarians, the Israeli leader said: “The horrors that Hamas perpetrated on Oct. 7 remind us that we won’t realize the promise of a better future unless we, the civilized world, are willing to fight the barbarians. The barbarians are willing to fight us, and their goal is clear: Shatter that promising future, destroy all that we cherish, and usher in a world of fear and darkness.”

Without going into the freedom struggle waged by the Palestinians, Netanyahu went on to claim: “This is a turning point for leaders and nations. It is a time for all of us to decide if we are willing to fight for a future of hope and promise or surrender to tyranny and terror. Rest assured, Israel will fight. Since Oct. 7, Israel has been at war. Israel didn’t start this war. Israel didn’t want this war. But Israel will win this war.”

Ignoring the treatment meted out to Palestinians over the years, Netanyahu further said: “Hamas launched this war by perpetrating the worst savagery our people have seen since the Holocaust. Hamas murdered children in front of their parents and parents in front of their children. They burned people alive, raped women, beheaded men. They tortured Holocaust survivors and kidnapped babies. They committed the most horrific crimes imaginable.”

He claimed, “Iran has formed an axis of terror by arming, training and financing Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and other terror proxies throughout the Middle East and beyond.”

Turning a blind eye to the severe atrocities inflicted on Gaza since the economic blockade and the daily ignominies heaped on common Gazan women and children, the Israeli prime minister said: “In fighting Hamas and the Iranian axis of terror, Israel is fighting the enemies of civilization itself. Victory over these enemies begins with moral clarity. It begins with knowing the di erence between good and evil, between right and wrong. It means making a moral distinction between the deliberate murder of the innocent and the unintentional casualties that are the inevitable result of even the most just war.”

He said: “It means holding Hamas accountable for the double war crime it commits every day by deliberately targeting Israeli civilians and deliberately using Palestinian civilians as human shields. It means not only making clear that the use of human shields is an immoral tactic of war, but making certain it is an ine ective one.”

According to him: “As long as the international community blames Israel for Hamas’s use of Palestinian human shields, Hamas will continue to employ this tool of terror. Hamas will continue to use the basements in Gaza’s hospitals as the command posts of its vast terror tunnel network. It will continue to use mosques as fortified military outposts and weapons depots. It will continue to steal fuel and humanitarian assistance from United Nations facilities.”

Ignoring the horrible situation on the ground, he said: “While Israel is doing everything to get Palestinian civilians out of harm’s way, Hamas is doing everything to keep Palestinian civilians in harm’s way. Israel urges Palestinian civilians to leave the areas of armed conflict, while Hamas prevents those civilians from leaving those areas at gunpoint.”

This comes in the wake of reported plans of the Tel Aviv government to pave the way for the expulsion of Gaza Palestinians to Sinai.

Netanyahu claimed: “Hamas is preventing foreign nationals from leaving Gaza altogether. Most despicably, Hamas is holding more than 200 Israeli hostages, including 33 children. Every civilized nation should stand with Israel in demanding that these hostages be freed immediately and unconditionally.”

“I want to make clear Israel’s position regarding a cease-fire. Just as the US wouldn’t have agreed to a cease-fire after the bombing of Pearl Harbor or after the terrorist attack on 9/11, Israel will not agree to a cessation of hostilities with Hamas after the horrific attacks of Oct.7.”

Here again the Israeli prime minister refuses to acknowledge that even the worst of wars, had never witnessed the forced evacuation of hospitals or the obstruction of humanitarian convoys to the extent that was currently unfolding in Gaza.

Netanyahu further said: “Calls for a cease-fire are calls for Israel to surrender to Hamas, to surrender to terrorism, and to surrender to barbarism. That will not happen.”

Taking a populist position to satisfy the domestic audience against a dwindling approval rating, Netanyahu wants to enhance the collective punishment of the Palestinians.

“The Book of Ecclesiastes says that there is a time for peace and a time for war. This is a time for war—a war for our common future. Today we draw a line between civilization and barbarism. It is a time for everyone to decide where they stand. Israel will stand against the forces of barbarism until victory. I hope and pray that civilized nations everywhere will back this fight. Because Israel’s fight is your fight. If Hamas and Iran’s axis of evil win, you will be their next target.

That’s why Israel’s victory will be your victory. Regardless of who stands with Israel, Israel will fight this battle until it is won. Israel will prevail. May God bless Israel, and may God bless all who stand with Israel.”

History will find Netanyahu as the obstacle to the release of hostages by refusing to a ceasefire and for endangering the lives of common Israelis by continued Apartheid. Not to mention thousands of deaths of innocent civilians on both sides because of myopic policies.