Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, addressing the ongoing Israel-Hamas war alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, drew a parallel between the Hamas attack on October 7 and the Holocaust.
In his speech, he referenced historical tragedies like Babyn Yar and Anne Frank to highlight the atrocities committed.
“On October 7, Hamas waged war on Israel. It was the worst terrorist attack the world has known since 9/11, but for Israel, proportionately, it was like twenty 9/11s. It was the worst act of anti-Semitic violence since the holocaust” Benjamin Netanyahu said.
“It’s impossible to describe all of the horrors, but like Anne Frank, Jewish children hid in attics from these monsters, and they were found and butchered. As in Babi Yar, Jews were machine-gunned” he added.
“Hamas butchered, Hamas beheaded Hamas burned babies alive. Hamas raped, Hamas kidnapped – hostages, over 200 – babies, children, elderly, Holocaust survivors. We are in a war between barbarism and civilization” Netanyahu added.
Further, Netanyahu contended that Hamas’s actions pose a threat not only to Jews but also to the Middle East, Europe, and the world at large.
The Israeli PM branded Gaza as “an enclave of ISIS.”
He asserted, “We are committed to taking all necessary measures to dismantle Hamas in Gaza, including its terror infrastructure and political apparatus. Our priority is to secure the release of our hostages and minimize harm to Palestinian civilians.”
Netanyahu underscored the primary objective of the conflict as the destruction of Hamas. “Hamas must be destroyed,” he said.
Netanyahu’s statement came following his meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.
Netanyahu also said that his country’s military will “destroy Hamas”, and once the war is over no one will have to live “under Hamas’s tyranny”.
Meanwhile, Macron said that terrorism is the “common enemy” of Israel and France.
“You are not alone,” the French President said.
At least, thirty French people were also killed in the Hamas attacks, which Israel said left 1,400 dead, Al Jazeera reported.
“I propose the coalition against Islamic State [ISIL-ISIS] also fight Hamas. France is ready for the international coalition against Daesh – in which we are taking part for operations in Iraq and Syria – to also fight against Hamas,” said Macron.
French President Macron who is visiting Israel to express his country’s “full solidarity” with the Jewish State, will also meet his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Tuesday, The Times of Israel reported the Palestinian Authority leader’s office as saying.
He would be the first world leader to visit the Palestinian Authority headquarters in the West Bank amid the crisis.
The French Presidency did not immediately confirm the meeting, according to The Times of Israel.
French President also met with families of French and French-Israeli nationals killed in the Hamas attack or being held hostage by terrorists in Gaza.
Macron’s visit takes place more than two weeks after Hamas attack on Israel, killing at least 1,400 people, the majority of them were civilians who were shot, mutilated, or burned to death, including in their homes and at an outdoor music festival. Thirty of them were citizens of France, as reported by The Times of Israel.
Additionally, at least 224 people were taken hostage and brought to Gaza.
US President Joe Biden, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte have already visited Israel since the war began.