Tel Aviv [Israel], February 17 (ANI): Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he believes the plan presented by US President Donald Trump is the only plan that can work to enable a different future for the people of Gaza, Israel and the surrounding areas and termed the plan “right on the dot.”
In his address at the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Netanyahu said that he had a “great discussion” with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and discussed on how they can complete the change in the Middle East. He said that Israel’s “greatest friend” is in the White House and he and Trump see eye to eye on the main tasks that they want to achieve and are in the position to change the Middle East.
Netanyahu said, “We changed the Middle East. Now, comes President Trump and Secretary Rubio, who’s a great friend of Israel as well. I’ve seen him over the years and we had a great discussion today and we talked about how do we complete the change in the Middle East. We have the greatest friend of Israel in the White House now. We see eye to eye on the main tasks that we have to accomplish, and we’re in a position to change the Middle East and give Israel the kind of horizon, the kind of hope, the kind of security, and the kind of peace that would have been unimaginable, and in fact was unimaginable from the day of the founding of the State of Israel. We’ve had great victories in the past.”
“The most important one was the six-day war. But, the possibilities that loom today before us have never been before us before, have never been available to us as they are now and we intend to pursue them to the full. We see eye to eye with the US administration, President Trump and his administration, first of all, on accomplishing the immediate three goals that we have in Gaza: One is to achieve the release of all our hostages, the second, as I said, is to destroy Hamas, the third is to ensure that Gaza has a different future, that we don’t just go back, same old, same old, same old and then I have to say that President Trump has presented a bold new vision, and the only plan that I think can work to enable a different future for the people of Gaza, for the people of Israel, for the surrounding areas. Why not give Gazans a choice? Everybody said this is the largest open-air prison in the world, not because of us, we let people leave,” he added.
He stressed that the people who want to leave Gaza should be allowed to do so and mentioned that 150,000 people have left Gaza over the last couple of years. He said that Israel tries to get the people get out of the harm’s way while the Hamas with rifles and gunfire tried to prevent them from leaving.
Stressing that people should be given choice on whether they want to stay in Gaza or to leave, Netanyahu said, “In fact, if you want to know, over the last couple of years, two years, I think, 150,000 Gazans left. You know how they left? Because they bribed their way out, not to us. They bribed their way out. The rich could leave. But if other people wanted to leave, give them a choice, not forcible eviction, not ethnic cleansing. In a war zone, people leave. We try to get the population to leave, to get them out of harm’s way, and Hamas, with rifles, with gunfire, tried to prevent them from leaving. So, we moved them around so that they would get out of harm’s way. But if people want to leave, if they want to emigrate, it’s their choice. And I think President Trump’s plan is right on the dot. It’s the right plan, so that’s Gaza.”
Netanyahu also spoke about ceasefire established in Lebanon after removing Hezbollah that he said had planned a ground invasion even worse than Hamas. He said that Israel has called on Lebanese to make sure that Hezbollah is dismantled and it does not threaten Israel anymore. He said that Israel welcomes the ceasefire and Lebanon President Joseph Aoun’s presidency and expressed hope that the Lebanese army does the job.
On the ceasefire established in Lebanon, he said, “In Lebanon, we’ve established a ceasefire, as you know, after removing Hezbollah that had planned a ground invasion even worse than Hamas, from terror tunnels and other infrastructure, underground infrastructure that they put right next to our border. We got rid of that. And we said to the Lebanese, now it’s your job to make sure that Hezbollah is dismantled and certainly doesn’t threaten Israel anymore.”
“We welcome the ceasefire. We welcome President Aoun’s presidency and I hope that the Lebanese army, reconstituted, does the job. But if it doesn’t, we will do the job. We have decided on a policy of continuous enforcement. We will not let those violations take place and we will not let Israel or Israeli targets or Israeli soldiers by attacking us from Lebanon that has ended,” he added. (ANI)
