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Photo: Gil Yohanan
Netanyahu at Knesset
Photo: Gil Yohanan

Netanyahu: Don't stop war

Opposition leader calls on government to continue war against Hizbullah, says Lebanon operations enjoy wide popular support

Israel is facing a strategic threat and therefore must end the war in Lebanon with a strategic victory, Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday at the Knesset, responding to international pressures to end the fighting.

 

Turning his attention to the air raid on the village of Qana in southern Lebanon that left dozens of civilians dead, Netanyahu said: "Here in Israel, there's genuine regret over the killing of children."

 

Bibi warned that a missile war can commence at any moment and characterized the prospect as a strategic threat.

 

"A third of the country is paralyzed because of this. Who knows whether this will include other citizens as well," he said. "This is a strategic threat…that requires a strategic victory. Those were the objectives set out by the government, justly, wisely, and boldly. They were presented to the security cabinet on the 13th of this month."

 

 

Netanyahu also stressed that Israelis will continue to back the government as long as it continues to fight Hizbullah.

 

"I know there's immense unification in order to achieve the objectives," he said. "It comes from all parts of the country because people know we're facing a different threat. This isn't merely a militia. In order to remove this threat, we recieved support from our greatest friend, the US, which rightfully said: We must do something, because if we don't, what have we done?"

 

'No objective is more justified'

 

Bibi aroused the anger of Arab Knesset Members after arguing "this is a war with a justified objective. No objective is more justified. None."

 

"The difference between us and the terrorists is that we hit (civilians) by mistake, and they do it with malice. This is the difference between a legitimate war and war crimes," he said. "This is the difference between us and them."

 

"We genuinely attempt to minimize the harm to civilians," he said.

 

"The journey of war is like any other journey. It starts easily but midway there's a difficult junction where we must decide whether we continue to climb the mountain or stop, and I call on the government: Don't stop midway. Complete the job."

 

Turning to Arab MKs who earlier referred to the Qana air raid, Netanyahu said: "When missiles were falling, when an (Israeli) grandmother and her granddaughter were murdered, I didn't hear you…"

 


פרסום ראשון: 07.31.06, 13:04
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