Netanyahu suggests naming conflict against Hamas and Hezbollah ‘War of Revival’

Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter

Prime Minister Benjmain Netanyahu leads a cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Oct. 7, 2024. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)
Prime Minister Benjmain Netanyahu leads a cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Oct. 7, 2024. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for the ongoing war against Hamas and Hezbollah to be named “The War of Revival.”

The yearlong conflict against Hamas has hitherto been known officially by the name of the military campaign — “Swords of Iron.”

Speaking at a special cabinet meeting to mark the one-year anniversary of the October 7 massacres, Netanyahu said: “This is our war of existence, the ‘War of Revival.’ This is what I would like to officially call the war.

“Our counterattack against our enemies in Iran’s axis of evil is a necessary condition for securing our future and ensuring our security,” he continued. “We will end the war when we complete all the goals we set: overthrowing the evil rule of Hamas, bringing all of our hostages home — both the dead and the living — thwarting any future threat from Gaza to Israel, and returning our residents in the south and north safely to their homes.”

Netanyahu said that Israel is “changing the security reality in our region. For the sake of our children, for the sake of our future, to ensure that what happened on October 7 will never happen again.”

At the meeting, Netanyahu lit a remembrance candle in honor of the victims, followed by a minute of silence. After the recitation of psalms and a prayer for IDF soldiers and the hostages, the ministers viewed footage of the Hamas atrocities on October 7.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum put out a statement in response saying: “We would like to remind the prime minister there cannot be and will not be any revival without the return of all the hostages.”

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