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In rare Israeli interview, PM rejects ‘malicious’ claim he’s needlessly prolonging war
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the claim that he’s prolonging the war in Gaza for political purposes, calling the accusation “malicious and false.”
Netanyahu made the remark to Channel 13, in a rare interview with an Israeli press outlet that isn’t seen as staunchly in his corner. The Channel 13 interview, a clip of which aired Sunday night, is part of a longer piece the channel is doing on the government’s internal minutes from June’s 12-day war with Iran. But it touched on the ongoing Gaza war, which Netanyahu framed as an element of Israel’s larger fight with a pro-Iranian regional axis.
The interview, which will air in full on Tuesday, comes as notes of discontent continue to reportedly emerge from IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, and as the mother of an Israeli hostage held by Hamas in Gaza expressed fear that the terror group is using her son as a human shield.
In the roughly two-and-a-half-minute clip, correspondent Moriah Asraf asks Netanyahu whether the short duration of the Iran war indicates that he could have ended the Gaza war earlier, had he wanted to. Polls have shown that most Israelis feel the prime minister’s decision-making in the war is driven by personal or political considerations.
“This question and its premise are malicious and also false,” Netanyahu answered.
The prime minister went on to compare the Gaza war to fighting in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, claiming that the IDF’s combat in Gaza is being handled more efficiently.
“How long did it take to win in Fallujah? Nine months,” he said. “For nine months, the whole world took on 3,000 terrorists in a place that is far less complex than Gaza. So first of all, I think we are doing it faster than all those armies combined, under much more difficult conditions.”
What Netanyahu was referring to is unclear. The US’s Iraq War in 2004 saw two separate battles in Fallujah that took place months apart and each lasted several weeks. In 2016, Iraqi forces, with the support of the US and other countries, recaptured the city........
© The Times of Israel
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