Excerpts from a Reuters interview yesterday with Benjamin Netanyahu:
Q. And yet civilians are being killed in
Gaza
A. “I think the international community is right to be concerned about the death of civilians. This is precisely the point. The Hamas is deliberately targeting civilians, deliberately hiding behind civilians. That’s a double war crime in itself, and very different from us. We have tried to minimise civilian casualties. When they fire into
Ashdod
Ashkelon
* * *
Q. Is
Israel s
Gaza
A. “I think ultimately we need to do this. Whether it can be done right now is something I don’t think we should discuss here. But it should be discussed because ultimately, if we don’t do it, then Hamas will rearm itself … Hamas openly declared its goal to eradicate the state of
Israel
Q. In the short-term, what needs to happen. Can there be a ceasefire with Hamas?
A. “I think we want to make sure that the firing of rockets stops, but also that the capability to fire future rockets is also stopped.”
Q. And how long can this take? Will it be weeks, days?
A. “I don’t know. I think what is important is the goal and not how long it takes to achieve.”
Q. And if you’re elected prime minister in the coming election, will removing the Hamas administration in
Gaza
A. “Yes.”
Q. And how would you go about it?
A. “With all the means necessary to achieve it.”
Q. What about the peace talks with the Palestinians, with Mahmoud Abbas, who has been critical of Hamas? Will you be pursuing peace talks?
A. “Absolutely. I believe there are Palestinians who want peace and Palestinians who are terrorised by Hamas. In fact, I think the people of
Gaza
Q. And can that be done without targeting Hamas leaders specifically? Do you see
Israel
A. “I don’t want to get into the tactics. I think this Hamas regime has to go.”
Hat tip: Hugh Hewitt. Hugh also advises that:
Be sure to read as well Alan Dershowitz’s “Israel, Hamas and Moral Idiocy” in today’s Christian Science Monitor.
Everytime I hear some MSMer passing along a condemnation of Israel’s alleged “disproportionate response,” I ask myself if the critics employing that canard want Israel to respond with 2,000 rockets lobbed into Gaza with no targeting. The use of indiscriminate missile attacks against civilians is a war crime.
If Hamas had bigger and deadlier rockets that could reach farther into
Israel
Israel is declaring, hopefully once and for all, that it will not abide the use of such missile attacks and will strike back whenever they are employed and will do so until they end.
For more on “disproportionate response,” read the brilliant post by Michael J. Totten at Contentions: “What Would a Proportionate Response Look Like?”
And some Jewish wisdom, via Shimon Peres:
Several days before the horror of September 11, 2001, Israel’s Foreign Minister Shimon Peres spoke to Conservative rabbis in an international conference call. Responding to a concern expressed about Israel’s policy of preemptive targeted killings of suspected terrorist leaders and the inevitable collateral damage, Mr. Peres defended the practice, citing an oft-quoted rabbinic legal dictum, “Im ba l’hargekha, hashkem l’hargo,” “If someone comes to kill you, rise up and kill him (first).”