Netanyahu: The security establishment claimed that we would not return the kidnapped. I fought and succeeded

February 10, 2025   

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded in the Knesset on Monday afternoon to motions of no confidence in the government submitted by the opposition factions - and sharply attacked the opposition for its doubts regarding the solution to immigration from Gaza proposed by US President Donald Trump. Want lectures with Yinon Magal? This year during the Passover holiday, everything will be different Netanyahu opened his speech: "Throughout my years as Prime Minister, I met with the President of the United States 20 times at the White House, but the historic meeting with President Trump was the most important, the friendliest, and the most significant ever with an American president, and I estimate that it was not more significant than it was for any Prime Minister in Israel. It was a warm and personal meeting that lasted five hours, the first visit by a head of state to the White House after President Trump's inauguration." Israel has never been so strong and the alliance between Israel and the US has never been so solid. "After a challenging period, and it must be said honestly, we see eye to eye with the US administration on the essential issues in the Middle East - the realization of all our war goals, including the elimination of Hamas, the return of all the hostages and the promise that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel, and the return of our residents in both the north and the south to their settlements that we will rebuild and make prosperous." His speech drew shouts from opposition members, following which several of them were removed from the plenary. Netanyahu responded to the shouts: "It's hard for them to hear, they like to listen to the propaganda channels. They can't hear facts, so I say - get over it, listen to facts, maybe you'll learn something." Netanyahu attacked: "You guys were talking about one thing the whole time - what will happen to the day after. Well, you got the day after, only it's not the day after you hoped for - to the failed Oslo narrative, and you refuse to learn the lesson." Netanyahu referred to the Trump plan. "The president presented a new and revolutionary vision for the day after Hamas so that a terrorist state will not be established again in Gaza, and I add, not just in Gaza - it must not be established anywhere within our borders. You in the opposition said there was no choice, that the Palestinian Authority must be returned. You said time and time again that Hamas cannot be defeated if there is no vision of 'the day after.' You said there was no choice but to put the Palestinian Authority there, the same authority that educates its children to hate and pays murderers. I am returning from the US with a different vision, without Hamas and no Palestinian Authority, neither one nor the other." Netanyahu continued to praise Trump's plans: "President Trump's vision is a new, creative and revolutionary vision and it needs to be implemented. You talked about the afterlife, you accepted it, only it does not match the Oslo narrative. We will not repeat this mistake time and time again like you. President Trump and all senior US administration officials are here to collapse the Iranian axis. "Above all, our American friends praised the elimination of the great murderers Haniyeh, Nasrallah and Sinwar. Nasrallah's elimination broke the axis of evil and led to the fall of Assad. We overthrew Assad's army and gained territory in the Golan. The truth must be told - most of you supported the cessation of the war at a very early stage before entering Rafah, before seizing the Philadelphia axis and before all the brilliant achievements. Imagine what would have happened if I had surrendered to you, in what situation would we have been? If I had surrendered to you, we would not be standing here as dreamers, we would be standing here as dreamers. We are not dreamers, we know what a complete victory is and we will not give up on it." Netanyahu also revealed that at the beginning of the war, the defense establishment expressed pessimism about the possibility of returning the kidnapped from Gaza. "As for the kidnapped, I will tell you something you don't know," the Prime Minister continued. "Already at the beginning of the war, I and my friends in the war cabinet heard from sources at the top of the defense establishment that it was likely that we would not be able to return the kidnapped. I argued differently and fought for it, and I am still fighting for it today.  

Netanyahu: "At the beginning of the war, we heard from sources at the top of the security establishment that we might not be able to return the kidnapped, maybe not even one. I told a different story. Right, Aryeh?""

Ram Ben Barak: "Aria, tell him he's lying.".

Deri stood up: "Ram, he's telling the truth. I'm telling you.". pic.twitter.com/BcvHi2HHff

— Yehuda Schlesinger (@judash0) February 10, 2025

""I thought and believed that the combination of the heroism of our fighters on the battlefield and our informed and determined conduct in the political arena would result in the release of the vast majority of our hostages, and that has indeed happened. I am determined to return them all - the living and the dead. Of course, they echo the terrible lie that I stopped the release. "All senior officials in the previous American administration, who are not suspected of excessive sympathy for me and the government I lead, explicitly said that Hamas was the only obstacle to a deal to release the hostages. For six months, they refused to enter into negotiations. "Until we entered Rafah and they realized that salvation would not come to them from nowhere - they refused to negotiate. It cracked because of our determination. They surrendered to the deal I proposed. There were among us who wanted us to accept their dictates and to release 12 or 14 hostages, and I said no, and that we would double and maximize, I demanded that we maximize the number of those released and I insisted on it and will continue to insist. Everything else is a lie. Those who came out now came out because I insisted on it, and I intend to insist on everyone - that is the truth." The Prime Minister further said: "Trump promised that Israel will not be threatened from its borders and that Iran will not have nuclear weapons. We are at the threshold of a historic turning point and historic opportunities. The next 4 years of Trump's term are a period of time in which we can fortify Israel's strength and status for generations. This is a historic visit, and a historic era lies ahead if we know how to persevere and do the right thing and not repeat the mistakes of the past. "Unlike in the distant past, those who raise the sword of destruction against us receive the blessing of the arm of the State of Israel. We are making progress, we are winning, we are changing the face of the Middle East. The campaign is not over yet. We must complete the defeat of Hamas and complete the other goals of the war, including the return of all our hostages." Netanyahu added: "We will pass the state budget and pass a balanced, responsible and thoughtful conscription law.".