Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s top national security aide said that Hamas is an idea and cannot be defeated. His comments put him at odds with the Israeli leader, who has pledged to eradicate the Palestinian militant group.
At the 21st Herzliya Conference on Tuesday, National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said, “You cannot completely get Hamas to disappear because it’s an idea, a concept. So you need a competing, alternative concept, and that would be a local leadership willing to live side-by-side with Israel and not to devote its life to killing Israelis.”
The remarks are similar to those made by Israel Defense Forces spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, who explained that Netanyahu’s stated objective in Gaza was unachievable. “This business of destroying Hamas, making Hamas disappear – it’s simply throwing sand in the eyes of the public,” he said. “Hamas is an idea, Hamas is a party. It’s rooted in the hearts of the people – whoever thinks we can eliminate Hamas is wrong.”
Netanyahu worked quickly to walk back Hagari’s remarks, saying, “The destruction of Hamas’ military and governing capabilities is one of the goals of the war. The Israeli military, of course, is committed to this.”
Hanegbi provided some vague details on how he sees the war in Gaza developing. The national security adviser claimed that Israel would neutralize Hamas’s armed and political wings, then set up an alternative.
He claimed that Israel would begin establishing this alternative to Hamas in northern Gaza in the coming days. “I expect that in the coming days we will see the concrete realization of this plan,” he continued. “We believe in it and believe it will put Hamas under great pressure.”
However, Tel Aviv insists it defeated Hamas in northern Gaza in January. At the time, Hagari told reporters the IDF had “completed the dismantling” of Hamas’s command structure in the north. In May, Israeli forces reinvaded those areas of the Strip and again fought members of Palestinian resistance groups.
Hanegbi said that fighting in Gaza will come to an end if the international community pressures Hamas to accept an Israeli-proposed ceasefire agreement. It is unclear what agreement he is referring to, as Netanyahu has repeatedly stated that Tel Aviv will not sign on to any deal that brings the conflict to an end. Hamas officials continue to state they will release the Israeli hostages as part of a deal that brings a permanent end to the war.
Kyle Anzalone is the opinion editor of Antiwar.com, news editor of the Libertarian Institute, and co-host of Conflicts of Interest.
It must be just me who doesn't measure a difference in results. If you try and read this guy's words, you may think he is just as genocidal. Maybe the flavor of genocide is slightly different? But it still tastes like blood.
Yep
The Palestinians were willing to do this, and the Israelis kept taking more and more of their land, which is even illegal under Israeli law.
The Israeli military dug up power lines and water pipes to sabotage Palestinian neighborhoods, and bulldozed the olive groves which take 12 years before they bear fruit. They destroyed the ancient Palestinian olive groves as a form of terrorism. When the Palestinians react, that can be shown by their allied clique in the U.S. media boardrooms.
“You cannot completely get Hamas to disappear because it’s an idea, a concept. So you need a competing, alternative concept, and that would be a local leadership willing to live side-by-side with Israel and not to devote its life to killing Israelis.”
But of course, the only way that any leadership would be acceptable to Israel would be one willing to have the Palestinians accept their rightful place as second-class citizens and any dissent will be met with the same loving care that Israel is presently showing those who dissented to living in an outdoor prison called Gaza.
Another Resistance Victory…!
"So you need a competing, alternative concept, and that would be a local leadership willing to live side-by-side with Israel and not to devote its life to killing Israelis.” Side-by-side means the same apartheid, controlled by Israeli occupation (only worse), separation by a more severe wall. Isn't that nice?/s
Hamas cannot be eliminated, but Collective Punishment has always been a very effective weapon. Wiping out 1% of Gaza's population and leveling the Strip in a matter of months sends a potent message. Or at least that is what the IDF is hoping with their bombing campaign.
Hamas needs to find a voice like Winston Churchill's during the "Blitz of Britain":
"They shall not break us on this island! We shall fight them on the beaches, and in the cities! We shall Never Surrender!!"
Benji needs to recognize, not only, a peoples right to exist but also the right to defend themselves. Anybody home in Israel? Y’all got a short memory or something?!
Well, as my WW2 veteran Dad said, "violence never solves anything." Victory in a war does not guarantee the death of the loser's ideas. Witness what happened after WW1. Did it end German militarism?
Did WW2 end Nazism, or merely push it into the shadows, to re-emerge in neo-supremacist shape in half a dozen other European countries?
That Hamas (or rather, Palestinian independence) is an idea, not just a transient paramilitary group, from the voices of Palestinians in the worldwide diaspora, one can tell, it is an idea the Israelis can never hope to defeat, but will just need to learn to live with.
Unfortunately, they do not want to.
The religious feuding adds more flame to both sides' rhetoric.
Must watch documentary:
‘The Night Won’t End’: Biden’s War on Gaza
From air strikes to field executions, Fault Lines investigates the killings of civilians by the Israeli military in Gaza and the role of the United States in the war.
https://www.aljazeera.com/program/fault-lines/2024/6/21/the-night-wont-end-bidens-war-on-gaza-2
Another distraction. This internal political squabble between Netanyahu and other officials is a performative distraction and a charade. The fact that this idiot is suggesting a ceasefire plan that Netanyahu has already rejected is proof of that. It's a GAME to distract from what is really going on.
ALL SIDES in Israel want Palestinian genocide. Hamas was NEVER the issue.
Every single article discussing the Gaza conflict does not mention that Israel was planning to destroy the Al Aqsa Mosque prior to October 7. Hamas' attack was a REACTION to THAT PLAN and a reaction to the Abraham Accords which promised to solidify Israel's control over Palestine. Why the hell do you think Hamas called that attack "the Al Aqsa Flood?"
Israel KNEW that Hamas would react to the plan to destroy the Al Aqsa Mosque. That was the PLAN – to initiate a conflict which Israel and the US neocons could then expand to involve Hezbollah and the rest of the Axis of Resistance including Syria, Iraq and Iran.
Once again for the retarded: If you don't mention the "Big Picture", you will not understand what is going on day to day. This is why all journalism is crap, including alt-media journalism – they NEVER mention the "Big Picture."