Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday night released a video summarizing his U.S. visit, running from a U.N. General Assembly address to a White House meeting where President Donald Trump unveiled a plan to end the Gaza war and free all hostages. He declared, “We turned the tables and isolated Hamas,” after telling the world body Friday, “When the going got tough, you caved.”
In the video posted after his Oval Office meeting, Netanyahu called the U.S. visit “excellent” and “historic,” noting it began at the U.N. and concluded in Washington — his fourth trip to the capital since Trump took office.
“Instead of Hamas isolating us, we turned the tables and isolated Hamas,” he said. “Now the entire world, including the Arab and Muslim world, is pressuring Hamas to accept the terms we set together with President Trump: to release all our hostages — both the living and the deceased — while the IDF remains in most of the Strip.”
“Who would have believed this?” he said of Trump’s proposal, noting that until now, Israel was told to accept Hamas’s terms — pull everyone out, withdraw the IDF, and let Hamas “recover and … rehabilitate the Strip.” “No way,” he added. “That’s not happening.”
Netanyahu said Trump made the enforcement stakes explicit. “And President Trump added that if Hamas refuses [the deal], he will give Israel full backing to complete the military operation and eliminate them. That’s why I think, from every perspective, it was an excellent visit.”
Pressed on whether he agreed to a Palestinian state, Netanyahu was unequivocal. “Absolutely not. It’s also not written in the agreement,” he said. “There is one thing we did say: that we would strongly oppose a Palestinian state. President Trump also said it. He said he understands it. He also said at the UN that it would be a huge reward for terrorism and a danger to the State of Israel, and of course, we won’t agree to it.”
His remarks came as Trump rolled out a 20-point framework aimed at ending the war, returning every hostage, preventing Hamas’s return to power, and standing up a post-Hamas governing structure in Gaza — an outline Israel has welcomed as aligned with its security aims, while Hamas says it is reviewing through mediators.
The video capped Netanyahu’s U.N. address, in which he accused Western leaders of buckling — “When the going got tough, you caved” — vowed Israel would not let the world “shove a terror state down our throats,” and told Iranians they will “regain their freedom” and “Make Iran Great Again.”
Meanwhile, retired U.S. Army Major John Spencer, a leading urban-warfare scholar, called Trump’s blueprint “the most comprehensive proposal” to end the war and lock in Israel’s long-term security — reinforcing Netanyahu’s claim that diplomatic pressure has shifted onto Hamas.
Joshua Klein is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.
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