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 it

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

01:25take into 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 the

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 costages released first

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

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

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

02:54completely in acting forcefully against Hamas. Well let's hope that that we can finish it the easy way

03:01and not the hard way. Prime Minister the world is watching closely as the latest deal with Hamas

03:07unfolds. After all the suffering what's next for Gaza from your point of view? What is your message

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

03:20has to come to an end. All our hostages have to be released and of course Hamas cannot come back to

03:28running Gaza, tormenting its people with its terror regime and terrorizing Israel with rockets and

03:36missiles and 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

03:58not by people who are committed to Israel's destruction but those who are committed to living

04:02peacefully with it. President Trump has undertaken himself to head that civilian authority, to head

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

04:14I think we can have a different future for Gaza and for Israel and for everyone in the region.

04:20That's what we hope will take place. But the first step is release all the hostages and then disarm

04:26and demilitarize, disarm Hamas and demilitarize Gaza. Is that a good deal for Gaza or is that the only deal

04:33for Gaza? Well 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

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

04:50Palestinian side who wants to descend from Hamas war of terror in Israel, wants to descend from Hamas

04:56taking all the money, the billions that were poured into Gaza. The Gazans didn't see any benefit from that.

05:02They just built an underground city, a terror tunnel city. And so they want a different future. And

05:09Gazans are now fighting Hamas. They're actually fighting Hamas because they see now a hope to get

05:15rid of Hamas. So is that something that can happen? I think it could. And I think it's not only that

05:22within Gaza people are hoping that they can remove this Hamas terror dictatorship that has subjugated them

05:30for so long. It's that everybody in the world agreed to a new deal for Gaza. The return of all our

05:36hostages, the disarming of Hamas, the demilitarizing of Gaza. Basically, the whole world has now accepted

05:46this plan. We have, most of the Arab countries have, the Arab states, as I said, have, Europe too. And of

05:56course, the United States, which has led this by President Trump. So that's a very good thing.

06:02And I think we should pursue it quickly. Prime Minister, do you believe this deal would finally

06:07lead 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

06:19accept it 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, then I

06:55think the whole region can have a much more positive and peaceful future. And by the way, I think that if

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

07:08with President Trump and Arab leaders in the Abraham Accords. We can expand the Abraham Peace

07:14Accords 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

07:50they want to see Hamas eliminated from the scene. I think we can get to a solution that protects Israel's

07:59security and also gives the Palestinians the ability to govern themselves, but not to threaten Israel.

08:05That 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

08:15the Palestinians 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,

08:34then the Palestinians have to come finally to recognize and accept the existence of a Jewish

08:40state in their midst. And that hasn't happened. That's why we don't have peace here, because

08:44they refuse to, they don't want a state next to Israel. They want a state instead of Israel.

08:49And once they, any territory they get, they used to attack us again and again. If we don't change that,

08:55then, you know, then this conflict will continue. If we do, we are able, with the plan that we have

09:00for the day after Hamas and Gaza, if we are able to change that, that goes a long way to securing a

09:06long-term peace and a stable peace in the Middle East. Well, some of the critics voiced exactly this

09:11concern, as you say, regarding what comes the day after. Exactly. And I said, what comes the day after

09:17is a de-radicalized Gaza, a demilitarized Gaza, and a disarmed Gaza, in the sense that Hamas will no

09:24longer run the show. And the people who will run the show in Gaza, and those are not Israelis,

09:29they have to be those Palestinians, supported by others who want peace with Israel and not the

09:35destruction of Israel. And once we get to that point, I think we can advance peace,

09:39not only between Israel and Gaza, but between Israel and many other partners in the Middle East,

09:44and among some countries beyond the Middle East. Prime Minister, would this plan and this outcome

09:49be possible without Donald Trump's mediation, given that Europe has been visibly absent from this

09:55process? Europe has been absent because Europe has basically caved in to Palestinian terrorism, to

10:03radical 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, because it's going

10:39to come after you after it devours Israel or any other country that stands in its way. That's the first

10:45thing, what not to do. What should be done is exactly what President Trump is doing. He's presenting

10:50a realistic peace plan, a realistic plan that eliminates the terrorist elements, the elements

10:57that want to continue the war again and again, who vow to repeat the massacre of October 7th again and

11:02again. Remove them, replace them with a peaceful administration, and we can move on with peace.

11:10But that requires first releasing all the hostages and eliminating Hamas as a military and governing

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

11:23this affects or will affect Israel's relations with Europe? How would you explain to those in Europe what

11:29are the goals of your government in Gaza? Well, I think it caused enormous damage first here in the

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

11:41attacks since the Holocaust, and you're given a state, because that's who is going to run that state. And

11:47remember, the Palestinians had a state in Gaza, a de facto state, which turned out to be the greatest terrorist

11:54attack in history since 9-11. Imagine that after 9-11, people would say, okay, now let's give Ben Laden and Al-Qaeda,

12:05let'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 the

12:16Palestinians 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

12:56state. 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 went to

13:16Bahrain. 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

13:26have the 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 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? Well, I'm in

14:15constant touch with them. I can say that some of them have been more, I would say, more

14:24respective of our, respectful of our positions than others. Others, basically, they're under tremendous

14:29pressure. The media is very stilted, very tilted against Israel. It's very, it just accepts Hamas

14:36propaganda, hook, line and sinker, whatever numbers they give, whatever facts they give that are exactly

14:41the opposite 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,

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

15:52on the impact of it today, of what happened? What lessons from the day continued to shape Israel's

15:59policies? And in this specific moment, with the release of hostages imminent, and after all the

16:06immense suffering 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

16:34not only been a war against Hamas terrorists. It's been a war against the Iran terror axis. Remember

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

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

16:56to their knees, Hezbollah. We brought down by our action the Assad, the murderous Assad regime that had

17:03murdered half of a million of its own population and served as a main axis for the Iran terror

17:10bridge to the Mediterranean. We took out the most dangerous weapons directed against us and brought

17:17back, rolled back the Iran atomic threat to annihilate Israel. It's a tremendous achievement.

17:23And it not only threatened us, it threatened every one of our Arab neighbors. It threatened Europe,

17:28because they were building intercontinental ballistic missiles that could carry atomic warheads

17:34to Italy, to 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,

18:07not only for our own security, but for the future of the world. And that's what that terror axis is,

18:13what has funded Hamas, funded Hezbollah, funded the Khutis, kept alive all these fanatic forces

18:21that are not only against Israel. They chant death to America, death to Israel, and by the way,

18:27death to Europe in between. And I think it's important for the Europeans to understand what

18:32what Chancellor Mertz said in a broader context. We are actually fighting the barbarians who want

18:38to destroy our free societies. They want to destroy you. And we are standing at the front lines while we

18:46are being attacked from people in Europe who we are protecting. It's quite amazing. So obviously,

18:53you know, there has to be a change, I think, in the understanding of what battle is being fought

18:58here. It's not merely against the Hamas terrorists who hide behind civilians, who put to use their

19:04civilians as human shields, who shoot the civilians who want to get out of harm's way when we tell them

19:10leave the area, the zone of combat. It's not only against these monstrous terrorists, it's against the

19:17whole monstrous terror 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.

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

20:12ourselves so courageously, are also defending all of free civilization.

20:17Prime Minister, thank you very much. Thank you.

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