JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is defending Israel’s use of lethal force against Palestinian protesters in the Gaza Strip. Dozens were killed as the new U.S. Embassy opened in Jerusalem Monday. “CBS Evening News” anchor Jeff Glor sat down with the prime minister, and asked if there is anything he would have done differently.
“Well, I wish that it wouldn’t have happened at all,” Netanyahu said. “I mean, Hamas is pushing people with a view of a massive infiltration into Israel, openly declaring their goal is to destroy Israel. They’re paying these people. So it’s, it’s not the, you know, the peaceful demonstrations that you think about.”
Glor asked Netanyahu about claims the protesters are being paid to try and cross the border.
“They’re pushing civilians, women, children into the line of fire with the view of getting casualties,” he responded. “We try to minimize casualties. They’re trying to incur casualties in order to put pressure on Israel, which is horrible.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sat down with “CBS Evening News” anchor Jeff Glor
CBS News
When pressed about whether Israeli forces went too far, Netanyahu said he didn’t know of “any army” that would do anything differently.
“You try other means. You try all sorts of means. You try non-lethal means and they don’t work. So you’re left with bad choices. It’s a bad deal. You know, you try and you go for below the knee and sometimes it doesn’t work. And unfortunately, these things are avoidable. If Hamas had not pushed them there, then nothing would happen,” Netanyahu said.
As for Hamas, Glor asked if Netanyahu plans to target any of its leaders.
“We don’t think that anyone is immune if they dispatch terrorists to kill us,” he responded.
Netanyahu said he doesn’t see any circumstance where he would be open to talks with Hamas in the current climate.
“As long as they seek our destruction, what am I going to talk about?” he said. “I mean, if somebody said, ‘Could you talk to al Qaeda? Could you talk — would you have discussions with bin Laden?’ About what?”
Tensions aren’t just rising in Gaza. The Israeli military recently attacked Iranian targets in Syria in response to Iranian rocket fire into the Golan Heights. Glor asked Netanyahu if Israel is at war with Iran.
“They’re at war with us,” he said. “We never sought any enmity with Iran. They openly declared that their goal is to annihilate us. Every day.”
Questions remain about the future of Iran, after President Trump decided to withdraw the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal. But Netanyahu said Israel “will not let Iran develop a nuclear weapon.”
So is peace possible in the future?
“I see it already now,” Netanyahu said. “We have peace with Egypt, we have peace with Jordan.”
As for peace with the Palestinians, he says he thinks it’s “possible,” but not with Hamas.
Netanyahu enjoys a close relationship with Mr. Trump, who has tasked his son-in-law Jared Kushner with handling any peace talks. But a plan has yet to emerge, and now that Mike Pompeo is secretary of state, he has given every indication he wants to be involved.
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