Netanyahu says Israel aims for ‘total victory’, followed by ‘demilitarized and de-radicalized’ post-war Gaza
Benjamin Netanyahu says that Israel will achieve “total victory” and that it will settle for “nothing less”.
Total victory, he says, means that Israel will fight until it destroys Hamas’s military capability, end its rule in Gaza and bring all the hostages home.
The Israeli prime minister moves on to talk about a post-war Gaza, and says that “a new Gaza could emerge” the day after Hamas is defeated.
He says that his vision for a post-war Gaza is of a “demilitarized and de-radicalized Gaza”, adding:
Israel does not seek to settle 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.
Netanyahu says that Gaza should have a civilian administration “run by Palestinians who do not seek to destroy Israel” and that a new generation of Palestinians “must no longer be taught to hate Jews”.
He notes that the terms “demilitarization” and “deradicalization” were applied to Germany and Japan after the second world war, and that applied to Gaza “can also lead to a future of security, prosperity and peace”. “That’s my vision for Gaza,” Netanyahu says.
Key events
Ruth Michaelson
Benjamin Netanyahu asserted that every man, woman and child in Gaza is receiving more than enough food.
“The prosecutor of the international criminal court has shamefully accused Israel of deliberately starving the people of Gaza: This is utter, complete nonsense. It’s a complete fabrication. Israel has enabled more than 40,000 aid trucks to enter Gaza. That’s half a million tons of food!” he said, wagging his finger.
According to data released by the United Nations, a total of 25,183 trucks entered Gaza before Israeli forces stormed the Rafah crossing in May, which affected both crossing points in the southern part of the enclave. The same UN data says a total of just 2,835 have entered Gaza through Kerem Shalom and Erez in the north in the months since, a fraction of the need.
In total, per UN data, 28,018 aid trucks have entered Gaza since the war began. A little more relief entered via the US-built pier, but this has not been seen as a successful effort to boost the supply of aid.
The US pier was also intended to overcome what the relief organisation Oxfam called, in a report earlier this year, Israel’s deliberate blocking of aid.
Sally Abi Khalil, the organisation’s Middle East and north Africa director, added: “Israeli authorities are not only failing to facilitate the international aid effort but are actively hindering it.”
Earlier this year, the world’s leading authority on famine, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, warned that Gaza was on the brink of famine if no action were taken.
In a report in June, the organisation’s famine review committee said that as there had been some increase in goods allowed into northern Gaza, that “the available evidence does not indicate that famine is currently occurring”.
However, they added that the risk of famine remains. They added: “The situation in Gaza remains catastrophic and there is a high and sustained risk of Famine across the whole Gaza Strip. It is important to note that the probable improvement in nutrition status noted in April and May should not allow room for complacency about the risk of Famine in the coming weeks and months. The prolonged nature of the crisis means that this risk remains at least as high as at any time during the past few months.”
The US Capitol Police now say six people were arrested for disrupting Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech in the House chamber:
Our officers just reported that the final number of arrests in the House Galleries was a total of six people for D.C. Code §10-503.16(b)(2), Unlawful Conduct.
— The U.S. Capitol Police (@CapitolPolice) July 24, 2024
Police say five who disrupted Netanyahu speech arrested, and pepper spray deployed on outside protesters
The US Capitol Police said five people who disrupted Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech from a gallery in the House chamber were arrested, while officers deployed pepper spray on protesters outside the Capitol:
Part of the crowd has started to become violent at First Street and Constitution Avenue, NW. The crowd failed to obey our order to move back from our police line. We are deploying pepper spray towards anyone trying to break the law and cross that line.
— The U.S. Capitol Police (@CapitolPolice) July 24, 2024
Five people in the House Gallery just disrupted the Address during the Joint Meeting. All of them were immediately removed from the Gallery and arrested. Disrupting the Congress and demonstrating in the Congressional Buildings is against the law.
— The U.S. Capitol Police (@CapitolPolice) July 24, 2024
Photographers on the scene caught images of Capitol police deploying pepper spay:
Benjamin Netanyahu also uses his address to praise Donald Trump, and says he wants to thank the former president “for his leadership in brokering the historic Abraham accords”.
He thanks Trump for “recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights”, for “confronting Iran’s aggression” and for “recognizing Jerusalem as our capital and moving the American embassy there”.
The status of both Jerusalem and the Golan Heights are disputed under international law.
Israelis were “relieved” when Trump “emerged safe and sound from the dastardly” assassination attempt on him, Netanyahu says.
Benjamin Netanyahu says that he is “confident” that the US and Israel will “vanquish the tyrants and terrorists” that threaten both countries.
He says that as Israel’s prime minister, he vows that Israel “will not relent” or bend, no matter “how difficult the road ahead”.
He says that Israel will continue to work with the US and its Arab partners on the “noble mission” to “transform a troubled region” full of “repression, poverty and war” into an “oasis of dignity, prosperity and peace”.
Israel will always remain the US’s “indispensable” ally, “loyal friend” and “steadfast partner” through thick and thin, Netanyahu says.
Thank you America. Thank you for your support and solidarity. Thank you for standing with Israel in our hour of need. Together, we shall defend our common civilization together, we shall secure a brilliant future for both our nations.
Netanyahu says Israel aims for ‘total victory’, followed by ‘demilitarized and de-radicalized’ post-war Gaza
Benjamin Netanyahu says that Israel will achieve “total victory” and that it will settle for “nothing less”.
Total victory, he says, means that Israel will fight until it destroys Hamas’s military capability, end its rule in Gaza and bring all the hostages home.
The Israeli prime minister moves on to talk about a post-war Gaza, and says that “a new Gaza could emerge” the day after Hamas is defeated.
He says that his vision for a post-war Gaza is of a “demilitarized and de-radicalized Gaza”, adding:
Israel does not seek to settle 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.
Netanyahu says that Gaza should have a civilian administration “run by Palestinians who do not seek to destroy Israel” and that a new generation of Palestinians “must no longer be taught to hate Jews”.
He notes that the terms “demilitarization” and “deradicalization” were applied to Germany and Japan after the second world war, and that applied to Gaza “can also lead to a future of security, prosperity and peace”. “That’s my vision for Gaza,” Netanyahu says.
Benjamin Netanyahu says that as Israel “defends ourselves on all fronts”, he knows that “America has our back”.
He says that the US has, for decades, provided Israel with “generous” military assistance. In return, a “grateful” Israel has provided America with “critical intelligence that saved many lives”, he says.
The US and Israel have jointly developed some of the “most sophisticated weapons on Earth” that help protect both countries, Netanyahu says.
We help keep Americans’ boots off the ground while protecting our shared interests in the Middle East.
Netanyahu says he appreciates US support but that this is an “exceptional” moment, and that military aid can “dramatically expedite” an end to the war in Gaza and help prevent a broader war in the Middle East.
He references Winston Churchill, who appealed to Americans by asking them to “give us the tools faster, and we’ll finish the job faster”.
I, too, appeal to America. Give us the tools faster, and we’ll finish the job faster.
Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel is committed to returning its citizens to northern Israel, and that it would “prefer to achieve this diplomatically”.
But Israel “will do whatever it must do to restore security to our northern border and return our people safely to their homes”, he says.
Benjamin Netanyahu says Iran is “virtually behind all the terrorism” in the Middle East, and says the US is the “guardian of western civilization” that stands in the way of Iran’s “maniacal plans”.
The Israeli leader runs through the history of Iran and its relationship with the US since 1979, and says that Tehran “understands that to truly challenge America, it must first conquer the Middle East” by using “its many proxies, including the Houthis, Hezbollah and Hamas”.
Netanyahu says that standing in Iran’s way is Israel. “When we fight Iran, we’re fighting the most radical and murderous enemy of the United States of America,” he says.
We are not only protecting ourselves, we are protecting you.
He adds that Israel’s “enemies are your enemies”, adding:
Our fight is your fight, and our victory will be your victory.
Benjamin Netanyahu says the international criminal court’s “false accusations” are not only libelous, but dangerous.
He says the ICC is tying Israel’s hands and preventing it from defending itself. “If Israel’s hands are tied, America is next,” Netanyahu says:
The hands of the Jewish state will never be shackled. Israel will always defend itself.
Benjamin Netanyahu thanks congressional lawmakers for their support of Israel, but says that a “minority” may have “fallen for Hamas’s con job”.
As Netanyahu has been speaking, the Democratic representative for Michigan, Rashida Tlaib, is holding up a sign that reads “War Criminal”. The other side of the sign says “Guilty of Genocide”.
Tlaib is the only Palestinian American member of Congress.
From NBC News’ Sahil Kapur:
Netanyahu claims ICC case against Israel is ‘nonsense’
Benjamin Netanyahu says the international criminal court’s Karim Khan has “shamefully” accused Israel of deliberately starving the people of Gaza.
“This is utter, complete nonsense. It’s a complete fabrication,” he tells Congress.
Netanyahu says the ICC prosecutor’s claims that Israel is deliberately starving civilians in Gaza is not true, and blames Hamas on a “strategy” in which they “actually want Palestinian civilians to die” so that Israel “will be smeared in the international media and be pressured to end the war”. He says:
I want to assure you that no matter what pressure is brought to bear, I will never allow that to happen.
Benjamin Netanyahu, still on the subject of the protesters gathered near the Capitol, condemns the university campus protesters and the presidents of Harvard, University of Pennsylvania and MIT, where he is a graduate, calling them “befuddled academics”.
The Israeli prime minister says “malicious lies” are being levelled at the Jewish state, and that we are witnessing an “appalling” rise of antisemitism in the US and around the world.
Whenever and wherever we see the scourge of antisemitism, we must unequivocally condemn it and resolutely fight it without exception.
Netanyahu says protesters outside Capitol ‘should be ashamed of themselves’
Benjamin Netanyahu says anti-Israel protesters have chosen to “stand with evil” and with Hamas. “They should be ashamed of themselves,” he says.
The Israeli prime minister says:
For all we know, Iran is funding the anti-Israel protests that are going on right now, outside this building.
He says that some of the protesters are holding up signs that say “Gays for Gaza”, adding:
They might as well hold up signs saying ‘Chickens for KFC’.
Netanyahu says that these protesters chant “From the river to the sea” but that “many don’t have a clue what river and what sea they’re talking about”.
Police officers are arresting people from the gallery as Benjamin Netanyahu is making his speech, NBC News’ Frank Thorp V reports.
Police arresting three people from the gallery above the Netanyahu address for showing SEAL THE DEAL NOW shirts in the room: pic.twitter.com/SdDpjlfUGd
— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) July 24, 2024
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