In rare Israel interview, Netanyahu rejects claims he’s extending war needlessly, compares it to Battle of Fallujah

 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a rare interview to an Israeli outlet that isn’t staunchly supportive of him, rejecting accusations that he has extended the Gaza war for political reasons, and arguing that the almost two-year war has gone by relatively quickly, considering the task at hand.

Speaking to Channel 13 news as part of an upcoming exposé by the outlet on protocols from June’s 12-day war with Iran, Netanyahu says that “the moment this war began, I said on its second day that we would change the face of the Middle East.”

“We are not only fighting Hamas — we are fighting the whole Iranian axis, of which Hamas is only one part,” he says. “And we eliminated the axis’s components, one by one. First of all, we tended to Hamas, we had to enter Rafah and take control of the Philadelphi [Corridor], then move to the north and do the pager [operation] and eliminate Hezbollah and advance, and as a result, [the rule of Syria’s Bashar] al-Assad fell. All these stages in effect took apart the Iranian axis as they had been preparing it to eliminate Israel.”

Asked if this means that had the October 2023 Hamas onslaught — which started the war — not happened, Iran would have gone nuclear, Netanyahu says: “No, I don’t know that, because we would surely have seen this, but Iran planned this chokehold and wanted to take these last few steps in its nuclear program — weaponization, meaning creating a nuclear weapon — very carefully, and it did this very carefully.”

The interviewer then asks Netanyahu if he understands those who believe that the swiftness of the Iran war shows that he can wrap up wars quickly when he wants to, and that he is therefore extending the war in Gaza for almost two years to serve his own political survival.

“This question and its premise are bad-natured and false,” Netanyahu answers, making a parallel with the US-led takeover of Iraq’s Fallujah in 2004.

“How long did it take to win in Fallujah? Nine months,” he says. “For nine months, the whole world took on 3,000 terrorists in a place that is far less complex than Gaza. So first of all, I think we are doing it faster than all those armies combined, under much more difficult conditions. Secondly, we are conducting this war with challenges that nobody else has. This is a war with hostages. When there are hostages, you are careful, you do ceasefires.

“Thirdly, you had an American administration that, after a few weeks of unreserved support, started not only having reservations, but also blocking us,” the premier adds, taking aim once again at former US president Joe Biden’s administration, and acknowledging that Donald Trump’s administration has been very supportive since it took power in January.

“What happened was, we didn’t only need to defeat Hamas — we needed to defeat the entire Iranian axis, including a war with Iran itself. So I think that we are now in the decisive stage. What started in Gaza will end in Gaza.”

Further quotes from the interview are set to air Tuesday evening as part of the full exposé about the Iran war protocols.