Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives an interview to CBS News, amid his years-long near-total boycott of Israeli media, saying that if Hamas doesn’t agree to disarm, “all hell” will break loose.
“We agreed to give peace a chance,” says Netanyahu when asked by the American network how it can be said that the war is over when the IDF is still deployed in parts of Gaza and Hamas is reasserting control of the Strip.
The premier touts US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan, which has been okayed by both Israel and Hamas, and stipulates that the Palestinian terror group must be disarmed and Gaza demilitarized, with no weapons factories operating inside the Strip and no smuggling on its borders.
“We agreed, let’s get the first part done, and now let’s give a chance to do the second part,” Netanyahu says, voicing hope that Hamas will hand over its arms peacefully, and paraphrasing Trump as saying that otherwise, “all hell breaks loose.”
Trump has said that if Hamas doesn’t uphold its side of the deal, “we will disarm them,” perhaps “violently.”
Asked what it would take for him to declare the war over, the premier says: “I think that, for the foreseeable future, not only for Israel but for the free world, and for the civilized world, you have to maintain your ability to defend yourself, because freedom is not permanent, nor is it automatic. If you cannot defend free societies, they will be overtaken by authoritarian or totalitarian regimes.”
When the interviewer remarks that this sounds like Israel will be at war for another 100 years, Netanyahu disagrees, saying that “the way you purchase peace is through strength” and touting the Trump-brokered normalization deals he signed in 2020 with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan, though the latter is indefinitely suspended.
“I think we have an opportunity to make peace with many, many more,” he adds. “And that, I think, would be the greatest gift we can bring the people of Israel, the people of the region, and the people of the world.”
Asked about a remark Trump made at the Knesset on Monday that he isn’t “the easiest guy to deal with,” Netanyahu says: “Well, I hope he says that because I’m very tough on the matters that pertain to my country’s future. When I believe that what I’m asked to do is fine, I say [it] is, and when I think I have to say ‘no,’ I say it. And that’s my job. My job is to protect the Jewish state and assure the future of the Jewish people.”
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