Danny Danon, a former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, told Newsmax on Monday that Israel's operation in Gaza will not end until Hamas is eradicated, and the Jewish state will not make the mistake of bowing to pressure for a cease-fire as it had in previous conflicts.
Israel began its ground operation into Gaza on Friday to root out Hamas terrorists and rescue hostages taken during the Oct. 7 terrorist attack that resulted in the deaths of 1,400 Israelis.
"We always look at the what's important for achieving the goal, and the goal is defeating Hamas," Danon, a member of Israel's ruling Likud Party in the Knesset, told "Newsline." "In the past, we saw so many times, coming from the U.S., I remember when [Secretary of State John Kerry] was pushing [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu to accept the cease-fire with Hamas in 2014, all of those mistakes. We are not going to repeat them again.
"We are grateful for the support we received from many of our allies, but we ask them to understand they need to stick with us all the way. It's not going to be a short operation, so their real friendship will be tested in a few weeks. The U.S. and our other allies, give us the time necessary to finish the job this time."
There have been cries from the U.S. and U.N. about a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, given Israel's ground operation came on the heels of an unprecedented aerial bombardment.
"All day long, we hear about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and we ask ourselves: What about our humanitarian crisis?" Danon said. "What about the kidnapped Israelis? We're talking about babies, families, the elderly. What about the 1,400 victims?
"With all due respect, we haven't forgotten what happened three weeks ago, and we are determined to finish the job this time to defeat Hamas. It's not going to be a short operation, so we will try to minimize the casualties to our forces and to the civilians."
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Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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