Hamas’ rule has to come to an end, Benjamin Netanyahu tells Euronews

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Hamas’ rule has to come to an end, Benjamin Netanyahu tells Euronews  In an exclusive interview with Euronews, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said he hopes the US-led ceasefire plan will work because if it does not, Israel will act forcefully against Hamas with the full backing of the US. “Let's hope that we can finish it the easy way and not the hard way," he said.  READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/10/05/hamas-rule-has-to-come-to-an-end-benjamin-netanyahu-tells-euronews  Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages

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00:00Prime Minister Netanyahu, thank you for joining us and to begin with we want to focus on the

00:13recent development surrounding the latest deal with Hamas. Now this deal comes close to exactly

00:20two years since the Hamas attack on the 7th of October. We might see the hostages freed on the

00:28same day they were taken two years ago. Bringing the hostages back, can you say Israel achieved its

00:36main goal? Well, we accepted the deal as did all the world. It was President Trump's plan. Hamas

00:44says that it accepted the deal. Now the onus is on Hamas. This plan consists of two parts. The first

00:51part is releasing all the hostages. Israel makes a tactical withdrawal, stays in Gaza. And then the

00:57second part is meant to demilitarize Gaza and disarm Hamas. That will be negotiated. But the

01:08first part is there. It's agreed upon. And that could be the, indeed, the beginning of the end of

01:13the war. And as I said, since we accepted it, we have to see what Hamas will do. If Hamas will accept

01:19it, I think it's a very good sign. If Hamas doesn't accept it, and it's a possibility that we always take

01:25into mind, then Israel will receive, as President Trump says, the full support of the United States

01:31to forcefully act against it to bring about an end to the war. I prefer, obviously, that we proceed

01:40with the plan as presented. But time will tell. And it won't take very long. In a few days, we'll know.

01:46If Hamas agrees to the release of all our hostages, we can move forward. That is complete phase one of

01:53the deal. That's what we're trying to do right now. Prime Minister, just to follow up. So what happens

01:58if Hamas does not release the hostages? What will Israel do? How Israel will change its stance

02:03and the strategy? Well, you have to realize that the reason Hamas agreed in the first place to this

02:09deal is because we acted militarily against their main stronghold, the city of Gaza. I gave an order

02:15to several weeks ago to the army to enter that stronghold. And as a result, Hamas became, I would

02:23say, a lot more flexible because they realized that their end is near. Add to that President Trump's

02:28intervention and the plan that he put for ending the conflict by having the hostages released first,

02:35that, I think, sealed this situation in a positive way. Now, of course, I can't tell you if Hamas will

02:43agree to it. I think that it's possible. I hope it will happen, but I can't guarantee that it will

02:49happen. And so if it doesn't happen, what President Trump has said is that he will back Israel completely

02:55in acting forcefully against Hamas. Well, let's hope that that we can finish it the easy way and not

03:02the hard way. Prime Minister, the world is watching closely as the latest deal with Hamas unfolds.

03:08After all the suffering, what's next for Gaza from your point of view? What is your message to the

03:14Palestinian civilians and to Hamas at this stage? I think everybody understands that Hamas rule has

03:21to come to an end. All our hostages have to be released. And of course, Hamas cannot come back to

03:29running Gaza, tormenting its people with its terror regime and terrorizing Israel with rockets and missiles

03:37and hostage-taking. So that has to end. Once that ends, I think what we need is a system of a

03:43division of responsibility. Israel will have overall security responsibility to prevent terrorist

03:49resurgence from Gaza. But in Gaza, we need a civilian administration that is administered not by

03:58people who are committed to Israel's destruction, but those who are committed to living peacefully with

04:03it. President Trump has undertaken himself to head that civilian authority, to head the governing board

04:09of that civilian authority. And I think that's a good development. So if we have that, I think we can

04:15have a different future for Gaza and for Israel and for everyone in the region. That's what we hope will

04:21take place. But the first step is release all the hostages and then disarm Hamas and demilitarize Gaza.

04:29Is that a good deal for Gaza or is that the only deal for Gaza?

04:34Well, I think right now it's the only deal on the table. There's no other deal, number one.

04:38Number two, I think it's very good for Gaza. And the Gazans are hoping that Hamas will, they want to free

04:44Gaza. They want to free Gaza from Hamas, from Hamas tyranny. Hamas shoots anybody, anybody in the Palestinian side.

04:51Who wants to dissent from Hamas war of terror in Israel, wants to dissent from Hamas taking all the money,

04:57the billions that were poured into Gaza. The Gazans didn't see any benefit from that. They just built an underground

05:04city, terror tunnel city. And so they want a different future. And Gazans are now fighting Hamas.

05:11They're actually fighting Hamas because they see now a hope to get rid of Hamas. So is that something that can happen?

05:19I think it could. And I think it's not only that within Gaza, people are hoping that they can remove

05:25this Hamas terror dictatorship that has subjugated them for so long. It's that everybody in the world

05:33agreed to a new deal for Gaza. The return of all our hostages, the disarming of Hamas,

05:41the demilitarizing of Gaza. Basically, the whole world has now accepted this plan.

05:47We have. Most of the Arab countries have. The Arab states, as I said, have.

05:54Europe too. And of course, the United States, which has led this by President Trump. So that's a very

06:00good thing. And I think we should pursue it quickly. Prime Minister, do you believe this deal would

06:07finally lead to a lasting peace rather than a merely temporary pause, especially given, as you said,

06:13that Hamas only partially accepted the plan? Well, it can't partially accept it. It has to accept

06:19it in full and especially the first part that has to get underway. That's what moves everything

06:25towards a resolution of the conflict. If they do, if we actually set up a civilian administration in

06:31Gaza that doesn't educate its children to hate Israel, to try to destroy Israel, to kill Jews

06:39everywhere, in other words, to de-radicalize Gaza, not only to demilitarize it, not only to disarm Hamas,

06:46but to de-radicalize Gaza, as was done in Germany after World War II or in Japan, then, yes,

06:54then I think the whole region can have a much more positive and peaceful future. And by the way,

07:00I think that if that happens, I think we'll have many more peace deals of the kind that I broke, that

07:05I had done with President Trump and Arab leaders in the Abraham Accords. We can expand the Abraham

07:14Peace Accords to include other countries in the Middle East and Muslim countries beyond the Middle East.

07:19So the future is bright, but the first stage is Hamas has to get on the program. They have to release

07:26all our hostages and do so immediately. Well, the plan is seen as a short-term solution by many

07:32regional actors. And the Arab countries may not follow suit unless, what they say, they see a long-term

07:38solution for Palestine. How do you plan to get them on board from your side, from your point of view?

07:44I think many of them are afraid of a Palestinian terror state. Many of them privately tell us how

07:51they want to see Hamas eliminated from the scene. I think we can get to a solution that protects

07:58Israel's security and also gives the Palestinians the ability to govern themselves, but not to threaten

08:05Israel. That means necessarily that some sovereign powers will remain in Israel's hands, especially the

08:10sovereign power of security. Because we've seen time and again that when Israel moves out, gives the

08:15Palestinians a territory which they govern with no limitations, then immediately Iran comes in,

08:23they set up a terror state, they attack Israel, as they did in the horrific massacre of October 7th.

08:29That cannot be, that's not a path to peace. If you want a real path to peace, then the Palestinians have

08:35to come finally to recognize and accept the existence of a Jewish state in their midst. And that hasn't

08:42happened. That's why we don't have peace here, because they refuse to, they don't want a state

08:46next to Israel. They want a state instead of Israel. And once they, any territory they get, they used to

08:52attack us again and again. If we don't change that, then, you know, then this conflict will continue.

08:57If we do, we are able, with the plan that we have for the day after Hamas in Gaza, if we are able to change

09:04that, that goes a long way to securing a long-term peace and a stable peace in the Middle East.

09:09Well, some of the critics voiced exactly this concern, as you say, regarding what comes the day

09:13after. Exactly. And I said, what comes the day after is a de-radicalized Gaza, a demilitarized Gaza,

09:21and a disarmed Gaza, in the sense that Hamas will no longer run the show. And the people who will run

09:26the show in Gaza, and those are not Israelis, they have to be those Palestinians supported by others who

09:33want peace with Israel, and not the destruction of Israel. And once we get to that point, I think

09:38we can advance peace, not only between Israel and Gaza, but between Israel and many other partners

09:43in the Middle East, and the Muslim countries beyond the Middle East.

09:46Prime Minister, would this plan and this outcome be possible without Donald Trump's

09:51mediation, given that Europe has been visibly absent from this process?

09:56Europe has been absent because Europe has basically caved in to Palestinian terrorism,

10:02to radical Islamist minorities in their midst. And they basically said, let's just give them a

10:09Palestinian state, which would be the ultimate reward for Hamas after doing the greatest massacre

10:15against the Jews since the Holocaust. Now we'll give you a state in which you can continue the war

10:21against Israel. That's why Europe has essentially become irrelevant and displayed enormous weakness.

10:28If you want to fight terror, stand up and fight terror. Stand up and be forceful against terrorism.

10:34Don't capitulate to its demands. Don't feed the crocodile, in Churchill's words,

10:38because it's going to come after you after it devours Israel or any other country that stands in its way.

10:44That's the first thing not to do. What should be done is exactly what President Trump is doing.

10:49He's presenting a realistic peace plan, a realistic plan that eliminates the terrorist elements,

10:55the elements that want to continue the war again and again, who vow to repeat the massacre of October

11:017th again and again. Remove them, replace them with a peaceful administration and we can move on with

11:09peace. But that requires first releasing all the hostages and eliminating Hamas as a military and

11:16governing element in Gaza. There are several EU countries recently recognized the state of

11:21Palestine. How this affects or will affect Israel's relations with Europe? How would you explain to

11:28those in Europe what are the goals of your government in Gaza? Well, I think it caused enormous damage

11:35for us here in the Middle East because it's the ultimate prize for terror. You attack Jews in, as I said,

11:40the worst attack since the Holocaust. And you're given a state, because that's who is going to run that state.

11:46And remember, the Palestinians had a state in Gaza, a de facto state, which turned out to be the greatest terrorist attack

11:55in history since 9-11. Imagine that after 9-11, people would say, okay, now let's give Ben Laden and Al Qaeda,

12:04let's give them a state. Not only will we give them a state, it'll be one mile from New York,

12:09which is what they're suggesting. After this October 7th massacre against Israel, we'll give

12:16the Palestinians a state one mile or a few miles from Tel Aviv. That's not going to promote peace.

12:21But that's effectively what the European leaders, those European leaders who suggested a Palestinian

12:27state are saying. We're going to stop terrorism by giving the terrorists a state right next to their

12:32intended victim, whom they almost eliminated. That doesn't move peace. I think that the more

12:40responsible approach taken by the United States and by President Trump, that's the way to improve

12:45peace. How did we get the Abraham Accords? For 50 years, for 25 years, a quarter of a century,

12:51we couldn't expand the peace with our Arab neighbors. Everybody said, you have to give the Palestinians a

12:55state. And that state obviously was committed to our elimination. So that wouldn't move it very far.

13:02In fact, it would move the needle backwards. In came President Trump and I, and we worked together,

13:08and we went around the Palestinian state. We went to Abu Dhabi. We went to the Emirates, that is. We

13:15went to Bahrain. We went to Morocco. We went to Sudan. And we brokered a direct peace between them,

13:21a peace based on mutual respect, a peace based on strength. First you have the strength, then you have

13:26the peace. Now what these European leaders are saying, let's weaken Israel to the point where

13:31it's fighting for its survival against another Palestinian state, this time right at the outskirts

13:38of Jerusalem, in fact within Jerusalem, and right above the hills above Tel Aviv. Let's give them a

13:44state, and that's going to bring peace. That's absurd. So Europe has lost. Those European leaders,

13:49unfortunately caved in to the terror of Hamas. And I think that's the wrong way to go. I hope they

13:55rethink their way, because we'd prefer to have not only good relations with Europe, but good relations

14:03with a realistic Europe, and one that would bring real peace, as opposed to the repetition of horrible

14:09war. Are you willing to negotiate with the European members to convince them to do that?

14:14Well, I'm in constant touch with them. I can say that some of them have been more,

14:21I would say, more respectful of our positions than others. Others, basically, they're under

14:29tremendous pressure. The media is very tilted against Israel. It just accepts Hamas propaganda,

14:37hook, line and sinker, whatever numbers they give, whatever facts they give that are exactly the

14:41opposite of the truth. They've accepted. Then they have also these demonstrations from day one,

14:48from day one of the massacre, when women were raped, and men were beheaded, and babies were burned by

14:54these Hamas monsters. There were mass demonstrations on the streets of Europe's capitals on behalf of

14:59Hamas, on behalf of Hamas. And with this combined pressure of distorted media and internal Islamist

15:07pressure supporting Hamas, quite a few of them caved in. And that's not good. I think it's not good for

15:16Europe. I think it's very bad for Europe, because it encourages additional extremism and fanaticism,

15:26which will bring down Europe eventually. And I don't think it's good for peace. So I hope that Europe

15:31changes its direction. Some of it has, but some of it hasn't. I hope the part that hasn't,

15:37rethinks not only for our sake, but for Europe's sake too.

15:40Prime Minister, the Hamas attack on the 7th of October marked a turning point in the conflict and

15:46the tragic loss of life and the ongoing suffering. I want to ask you, how do you reflect on the impact

15:53of it today, of what happened? What lessons from the day continue to shape Israel's policies? And

16:01in this specific moment, with the release of hostages imminent, and after all the immense

16:07suffering on both sides, has justice been served in your view?

16:11I think the first question is, can we remove a threat to perform another Holocaust on the Jewish

16:21people? And the answer is, I think we have. It's come at a great cost to us, because we've lost some

16:26of our finest sons and daughters who bravely fight this war. I think we've done something else. It's not

16:34only been a war against Hamas terrorists, it's been a war against the Iran terror axis. Remember that

16:41in these two years of conflict, we also went after Hezbollah that threatened to rain down 150,000 rockets

16:51and missiles on our heads, and they did quite a bit of that. And we basically brought them to their

16:57knees, Hezbollah. We brought down by our action the Assad, the murderous Assad regime that had murdered

17:04half of a million of its own population and served as a main axis for the Iran terror bridge to

17:11the Mediterranean. We took out the most dangerous weapons directed against us and brought back,

17:17rolled back, the Iran atomic threat to annihilate Israel. It's a tremendous achievement. And it not

17:24only threatened us, it threatened every one of our Arab neighbors. It threatened Europe, because they

17:29were building intercontinental ballistic missiles that could carry atomic warheads to Italy,

17:36to France, to Germany, to Britain. It's a huge service that we did. As Chancellor Mertz said,

17:44Israel did the work for all of us. That was an important acknowledgement of what we were doing.

17:49And then, of course, we also have to deal with the Khutis that are blocking another Iranian proxy

17:54at the mouth of the Red Sea that is blocking maritime trade and is also raining down missiles on us,

18:01including last night. So we have a whole Iran terror axis, which we have rolled back not only for our

18:08own security, but for the future of the world. And that terror axis is what has funded Hamas,

18:14funded Hezbollah, funded the Khutis, kept alive all these fanatic forces that are not only against Israel.

18:23They chant death to America, death to Israel, and by the way, death to Europe in between.

18:28And I think it's important for the Europeans to understand what Chancellor Mertz said in a broader

18:34context. We are actually fighting the barbarians who want to destroy our free societies. They want

18:41to destroy you. And we are standing at the front lines while we are being attacked from people in

18:49Europe who we are protecting. It's quite amazing. So obviously, you know, there has to be a change,

18:55I think, in the understanding of what battle is being fought here. It's not merely against the

19:00Hamas terrorists who hide behind civilians, who put to use their civilians as human shields,

19:06who shoot the civilians who want to get out of harm's way when we tell them leave the area,

19:11the zone of combat. It's not only against these monstrous terrorists. It's against the whole monstrous

19:18terror axis that Hamas has built, not only to destroy Israel, conquer the Middle East,

19:23but to attack you. And that is what Israel is fighting. Few Europeans perhaps understand it,

19:29but it doesn't make it less true. It's just when, as Churchill warned the world that was celebrating

19:36the Munich Agreement, celebrating the giving Hitler control, basically, of a part of Czechoslovakia,

19:42everybody said, it's peace in our time. And he said, no, it's not. It's not. This will bring a war,

19:48the likes of which we haven't seen. And people condemn them as a warmonger, just as they're

19:52condemning Israel, just as they're condemning me. But in fact, we are fighting the battle of the free

19:57world. We are fighting the battle to prevent the barbarians from storming into Europe, first from

20:03conquering all the Middle East, storming into Europe, and then attacking the United States. Now,

20:07whether or not people see it, it's true. And I'm very proud of our soldiers who, in defending ourselves

20:13so courageously, are also defending all of free civilization. Prime Minister, thank you very much.

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