Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supported US President Donald Trump’s plan to seize control of the Palestinian region of the Gaza Strip, saying it might “change history.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been fighting Hamas militants in Gaza for over a year, announced three key aims for the besieged Palestinian enclave on Tuesday. He emphasized that Israel will “achieve all three” war goals.
When asked if he supports the Gaza hostage deal during a joint press conference with US President Donald Trump, the Israeli Premier said, “I support getting all the hostages out and meeting all our war goals, which include destroying Hamas’ military and governing capabilities and ensuring Gaza never poses a threat to Israel again.”
He went on to say that he had three war goals, and “we will achieve all three.”
Mr Netanyahu said he was “honoured” to be the first foreign leader invited to the White House. “You are the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House,” he told reporters.
“You’ve picked up right where you left off,” he said, listing Mr Trump’s policy toward Israel during his first term, which included quitting the Iran nuclear deal, brokering the Abraham Accords, and transferring the embassy to Jerusalem.
The Israeli Prime Minister praised the American leader for the Gaza prisoner arrangement, saying, “Your leadership has brought hostages home.” He claimed that Mr Trump had freed up armaments reserved by the previous administration, eliminated “unjust sanctions against Israeli citizens” – referring to sanctions on those settlers deemed radical – “confronted antisemitism, stopped funding UNRWA, and renewed maximum pressure against Iran.”
Mr Netanyahu also supported the US President’s intention to seize control of the Palestinian territories of the Gaza Strip, saying it might “change history.”
“It’s worth paying attention to this” concept and added that it’s “something that could change history,” he said.
Mr Netanyahu, known to by Mr Trump as “Bibi,” would not be pushed into a detailed discussion of the proposal other than to thank the US President for taking a different way.
The Israeli leader stated that Mr. Trump was “thinking outside the box with fresh ideas” and “showing a willingness to puncture conventional thinking.”
He also referred to Mr Trump as the “greatest friend Israel has ever had” and stated that the “people of Israel have such enormous respect” for the American president.
