Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he is ready to “do it alone” when it comes to the war in Gaza, as President Biden is accused of sending mixed messages on the US stance over the conflict.
Netanyahu, in a recent interview with British TalkTV’s Douglas Murray, said, “A nation has to do what it has to do to survive.
“If they cannot stand the heat of public opinion, then we’ll just have to do it alone. We will do what we need to do,” he said of other world leaders — as the Biden White House takes heat for wobbling between declaring it has Israel’s back and then appearing to back-peddle as anti-Israel protests have heated up at home.
“This is what Iran is doing without nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu said of the regional war, which has flared as Iran-backed militants launch attacks on the US and its allies in the Mideast in retaliation for their support of Israel.
“Now imagine nuclear weapons. … What does it mean when you have a country that is aggressive and intent and has nuclear weapons? They’re very aggressive. And they have a theology, a radical Islamic theology which points them in direction not only of the conquest of the Middle East, but of global domination,” he said.
“Too many countries and too many leaders have been asleep too long. We have to act to assure that Iran will not have nuclear weapons, and I certainly intend to do so.”
The prime minister characterized the bloody war against the Palestinian terror group Hamas as just one fight in a much broader struggle for the future of global domination — with Iran on one side and the Western world on the other.
“I’ve told President Biden, I’ve told all the leaders who came here, ‘This is your war as well because this is not merely a minor skirmish,’ ” Netanyahu said.
“This is part of a major confrontation between the moderate axis of Israel and the modern Arab states, against Iran, the terror axis of Iran.
“The whole world is now watching. Who’s going to win? They’re sitting in the bleachers, who will win, will Iran win? Or will Israel win? Will they win or will the west win?”
Iran is the primary backer of Hamas, the extremist Muslim group which violently attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing more than 1,200 civilians and sparking the war which has waged between Gaza and the Jewish state since.
Besides Hamas, Iran backs numerous extremist and terror groups in the Middle East known as the Axis of Resistance, which effectively serve as proxy forces in a wider campaign to annihilate Israel, expel western influence from the region and reshape the geopolitical map with Iran at its center.
Other prominent terror groups doing Iran’s bidding include the Houthis in Yemen — who have disrupted global trade and drawn strikes from US forces by raiding merchant ships in the Red Sea — and Hezbollah along the Israeli border in Lebanon, which has been on the brink of opening a second front in the Gaza war for months.
“For them this is all one big battle of civilization. Our civilization, against their wanton aggression, their violence, their rejection of all the values that we hold dear, the ideas of liberty of choice of freedom,” Netanyahu said. “The rights of women, the rights of minorities, the rights of gays, all of that they want to sweep away. And the question is, do we stand or do we fall?”
Defeating Hamas is paramount not just for protecting Israel from the terror group — but for protecting allies around the world from Iran, Netanyahu said.
“If barbarism wins here, Europe will be next. America will be next. Iran will emerge victorious. Iran unchallenged will conquer the Middle East, Iran will develop unchallenged nuclear weapons. It will have ballistic missiles to threaten Europe and the United States,” the prime minister said.
“This is part of a larger battle. And everyone has a stake in Israel’s winning.”
Over the weekend, the US military suffered its first fatalities from enemy fire since fighting broke out in Israel when drones struck an American base in neighboring Jordan.
Three servicemembers were killed and 34 more were injured during the attack Saturday night, which President Biden blamed on “radical Iran-backed militant groups operating in Syria and Iran.”
Those casualties come after the Biden administration’s commitment to supporting Israel’s war against Hamas has appeared to be waffling for weeks amidst public outcry in the US.
Biden officials have reportedly considered slowing down or halting weapons deliveries to Israel to try to pressure the nation into scaling back its offensive in Gaza — which has come at the cost of over 26,000 civilians in the city, according the Hamas-run Ministry of Health.
The White House, responding to the weapons-related reports, which first surfaced by NBC, said there has been “no change” in its policy toward Israel.
