Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the citizens of Israel in a pre-recorded message on Saturday shortly after Shabbat ended.
The video came as the US and Iran conducted the second round of direct nuclear talks and Hamas published a third sign of life video of Israeli hostage Elkana Bohbot.
“I will not surrender to murderers. Such a surrender would endanger you, the public. If we yield to their demands, all the tremendous achievements we have gained will be lost,” Netanyahu said.
“Hamas has once again rejected a proposal to release half of the living hostages and many fallen soldiers. Hamas rejected the proposal and demanded an end to the war. If we accept Hamas’s demands, it would mean that Israel can be forced to surrender,” he continued.
The prime minister reiterated that such capitulation would “endanger the country and endanger you.”
Netanyahu also emphasized that calls from the opposition and protesting Israelis that the government agree to the return of all the hostages – and only then, once they are returned, go back to fighting Hamas if they continue to pose a threat – are unrealistic.
He said that while Hamas is vicious and cruel, they are not stupid and will not agree to such a scenario. In addition, the international community would not allow it, and those advocating for such a tactic do not understand how international relations work.
“If we capitulate to the dictates of Hamas now, all the great achievements of the war, which we achieved with the merit of our soldiers and our fallen and our heroic injured, all these achievements will disappear. As your prime minister, I will not surrender to murderers who committed the worst massacre against the Jewish people since the Holocaust. Surrender like this will endanger the country and endanger you.”
Iran nuclear weapons talks
The video came as the US and Iran held another round of nuclear talks.
The prime minister insisted he remains totally committed to preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. He also attacked those who have criticized him recently for failing to take military action against Iran’s nuclear facilities, claiming that those same critics opposed actions he took against Iran in the past.
“It is amusing to listen to the criticism of those who opposed the actions I took to harm and delay Iran’s nuclear program in the past, actions without which Iran would have had a nuclear weapon 10 years ago,” Netanyahu said.
The criticism came following a report that US President Donald Trump recently blocked an Israeli-proposed strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.