Netanyahu: There’s hope for diplomatic solution to Hezbollah attacks but Israel prepared for all scenarios

Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to Channel 14 in the first interview he's given to an Israeli news outlet since October 7, on June 23, 2024. (Screenshot, Channel 14, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to Channel 14 in the first interview he's given to an Israeli news outlet since October 7, on June 23, 2024. (Screenshot, Channel 14, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Israel can fight a war on multiple fronts, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says in his first interview with Israeli media since October 7.

Speaking about the possibility of a full-blown war against Hezbollah on the Channel 14 program “The Patriots,” Netanyahu says that he hopes there won’t be a need to do so, “but we will meet this challenge too. We can fight on several fronts, we are prepared for this.”

Israel will enforce any deal with Hezbollah to ensure that its forces are not on the border, he says: “It won’t be an agreement on paper.”

“It will include the physical distancing of Hezbollah from the border, and we will need to enforce it… We are committed to returning the residents of the north to their homes,” he says.

Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi told him there is hope for a diplomatic solution after their trip to Washington last week, says Netanyahu.

Turning to the question of who will rule Gaza after Hamas, Netanyahu claims that the IDF approached him 5 months ago with the idea of using local clans to rule the Strip.

“Now they brought me another plan, which we are trying,” he says, “I won’t go into details so that it will work.”

Netanyahu calls settling Gaza “not realistic” and says that it would not serve war goals.

He says that after the current phase of the war in Gaza, more IDF troops would be transferred to the north.

Netanyahu also blasts National Unity leaders and former coalition partners Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot for leaving the government in the middle of a war and begin attacking the war leadership they were recently part of. “There need to be limits to the opposition as well,” he says.

He adds, “no one will rush to topple the government in the middle of a war.” He argues that the fall of the government would bring about a left-wing coalition that would create a Palestinian state.

Asked about Israel’s ability to withstand strikes on its electricity infrastructure, Netanyahu says that “there will be no catastrophe.”

“We are working to protect it, unique protections that I cannot go into,” he says.

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