Netanyahu Vows 'Total Victory' In Gaza During US Congress Address, Dubs Protesters 'Iran's Useful Idiots'

In his address at the US Congress, Netanyahu pledged to achieve 'total victory' against Hamas.

In his address at the US Congress, Netanyahu pledged to achieve 'total victory' against Hamas.

Source : PTI

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday pledged to achieve "total victory" against Hamas. In his fourth address to the Joint Session of the US Congress, Netanyahu denounced American opponents of the Israel-Gaza war as "idiots." During his speech, he asserted that victory is in sight and said the day after they defeated Hamas, a new Gaza could emerge.

The Israeli PM said that the war in Gaza would end tomorrow if Hamas “surrenders, disarms, and returns all the hostages. "But if it doesn’t, “Israel will fight until we destroy Hamas’s military capabilities and its rule in Gaza and bring all our hostages home,” as quoted by The Times of Israel. “That’s what total victory means, and we will settle for nothing less,” he stated.

Netanyahu laid out a general vision for postwar Gaza. He also said he was “confident” that a hostage release and ceasefire deal could be reached.

“My vision for that day is of a demilitarised and deradicalized Gaza. Israel does not seek to resettle Gaza. But for the foreseeable future, we must retain overriding security control there to prevent the resurgence of terror, to ensure that Gaza never again poses a threat to Israel,” he said, as quoted by The Times of Israel.

“Gaza should have a civilian administration run by Palestinians who do not seek to destroy Israel. That’s not too much to ask. It’s a fundamental thing that we have a right to demand and to receive. A new generation of Palestinians must no longer be taught to hate Jews but rather to live in peace with us. Those twin words, demilitarisation and deradicalization, those two concepts were applied to Germany and Japan after World War II, and that led to decades of peace, prosperity, and security,” he further stated.

The Israeli PM compared the October 7 Hamas attack to September 11 and to the Pearl Harbor bombing. He called it “a day that will live forever in infamy” and “heaven turned into hell.”

“These monsters, they raped women, they beheaded men, they burned babies alive, they killed parents in front of their children and children in front of their parents. They dragged 255 people, both living in the dead, into the dark dungeons of Gaza,” Netanyahu said, as quoted by The Times of Israel.

Iran Virtually Behind All Terrorism, Says Netanyahu  

In much of his speech on Wednesday, Netanyahu framed Iran as the driving force behind violence in the Middle East. “Iran is virtually behind all the terrorism, all the turmoil, all the chaos, all the killing,” Netanyahu said.

America, “the guardian of Western civilization,” stands in the way of Iran’s maniacal plans to impose radical Islam on the world. Israel “is merely a tool” for Iran, added Netanyahu, quoting a Hezbollah official, as reported by The Times of Israel. “The main war, the real war, is with America.”

Netanyahu said that “in the Middle East, Iran’s axis of terror confronts America, Israel, and our Arab friends. This is not a clash of civilizations. It’s a clash between barbarism and civilization. It’s a clash between those who glorify death and those who sanctify life.” In order to triumph, “America and Israel must stand together,” he said.