Israeli President on ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict
(CBS, KYMA/KECY) - The President of Israel, Isaac Herzog, spoke with Face the Nation moderator Margaret Brennan Sunday on the Israel-Hamas conflict thus far.
"The war we've taken on against Hamas is a war which matters to the entire wellbeing and safety of the world, I would say...Our main aim, at this stage, following the atrocities we've gone through on October 7th is to uproot the capability of Hamas. It doesn't end in Shefa hospital. They're based all throughout Gaza," Herzog explained.
During the interview, Brennan and Herzog talked about Israel's relationship with Palestine going forward, with Herzog saying:
"Why would anybody agree right now to any progress when our neighbors, when we don't see truly their ability to fight terror and many, many of them including do in Gaza, are hailing and smiling and celebrating in the most atrocious way. The world's greatest atrocity almost since World War II. May I also add...that part of the whole issue is that it's kind of a culture that celebrates these awful atrocities. These atrocities cannot be...accepted in any way. It means it has nothing to do with a conflict. It has nothing to do with the borders, with settlements or anything. This is simple, simple clear barbarism, Jew hate, other hate, which is advocated by ISIS, Hamas, Al-Qaeda, which if we weren't here, then Europe will be next. And probably the United States is the endgame for all of them."
Brennan also asked Herzog about Israel's military operations since October 7.
"First of all, because I want to express my utter pain and sorrow for any innocent casualty. On the Palestinian side, we are doing our utmost, according to international humanitarian law. First and foremost, we alert people. Well, I mean, what's the story here. The enemy, these terrorists fought and tried to kill us and send missiles and terrorists from their homes. So we have to go to these homes and we have to blow up all the infrastructure, tunnel, missiles, everything. So we go and we send leaflets and we call and we phone and we send text messages to all the civilians in that area. We tell them, move out. We give them time to move out and we've opened humanitarian corridors, and we have increased dramatically. The humanitarian aid to those who are moving out to a safety zone. Unfortunately there could be casualties. Some of them are also by Hamas, fire and they're reporting. And the numbers are unclear to me, but, but I'm saying outright, we are doing our best. Unfortunately, these things happen and we are sorry for it. But at the end of the day, we have to uproar that infrastructure because we have to defend ourselves according to our right and duty to defend our people."
Isaac Herzog, President of Israel
