If Israel does not defeat Iranian terrorism, Europe will be next and “no one will be safe,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told ambassadors to the Jewish state on Monday, asking them to support Israel’s war against the Hamas terrorist group.
“What we see is a broader battle between civilization and barbarism. The barbarism is led by an Axis of Terror. The Axis of Terror is led by Iran. It includes Hamas, Hezbollah, [the] Houtis and their other minions,” said the prime minister.
Netanyahu continued, “They seek to bring the Middle East and the world back to a dark age. They seek to torpedo, to derail, any progress towards peace and the progress and the promise that we had in our budding peace treaties with our Arab neighbors.
“That battle is now being waged by us against Hamas in Gaza. There is no substitute for victory. We will defeat Hamas, we will dismantle Hamas, we will offer the people of Gaza and the entire peoples of the Middle East a real future, a future of promise and hope,” he said.
“We believe that all civilized powers should back us in this effort because this battle is your battle, and our victory is your victory,” said Netanyahu.
On Sunday, Netanyahu said that Israel will not agree to any ceasefire with Hamas unless the terrorist group releases the more than 200 hostages it kidnapped during its Oct. 7 attacks. At least 1,400 people were killed in Hamas’s assault on southern Israeli communities.
“There will be no ceasefire without the return of the hostages. This should be completely removed from the lexicon. We say this to our friends and to our enemies: We will continue until we defeat them. We have no alternative,” the premier said during a tour of the Ramon Air Force Base.
On Monday, Netanyahu told visiting Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov that “if civilization does not win, barbarism will win. This is what we see in the 21st century. It’s not just our struggle, it’s yours too, and I think you understand that very well.”
