Benjamin Netanyahu at War

1/27/24
 
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from The Wall Street Journal,
1/26/24:

Israel’s prime minister is determined to crush Hamas, diplomatic about the Biden administration, and optimistic about peace with Saudi Arabia.

It’s 9 p.m. and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has just returned to Israel’s capital from a military base near Haifa. He’d gone up north to give the troops a pep talk. An aide tells me that a young reservist stood up and asked, “What do you expect from us?”

“Total victory,” Mr. Netanyahu replied.

What does total victory mean to a country that lived through a genocidal attack on Oct. 7? What does it mean to win after suffering such loss?

“We have three war aims,” Mr. Netanyahu says in our interview. “These aims are achievable,” but the war “will take many months.” He lists the aims in his distinctive baritone. “One, destroy Hamas. Two, free the hostages”—of whom about 136 remain in Hamas’s tunnels, some of whom are presumed dead. “Three, ensure that Gaza never again poses a threat to Israel.”

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