‘Some progress’ achieved in efforts to close hostage deal with Hamas, Netanyahu says in Knesset address

In a typically rowdy session in the Knesset plenum, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expresses cautious optimism about the chances for a hostage deal with Hamas.

“I would like to tell you carefully,” he says during a so-called 40 signatures debate which the opposition can call once a month, “there is some progress and there are three reasons for this particular progress. First, [Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar is no longer with us; Hamas hoped that Hezbollah and Iran would come to their aid but they are licking their wounds; and Hamas itself is also taking more and more blows. So there is progress. I don’t know how long it will take, but we are making efforts.”

Days before the Hanukkah holiday, Netanyahu says happiness cannot be complete “until we get all the hostages home.”

“I cannot tell you all the things we are doing, but we are taking significant actions on all levels,” continues Netanyahu.

“We will continue to act in every way, without respite, until we bring everyone home from enemy territory,” he promises.

Netanyahu says that Israel’s military feats are “changing the face of the Middle East.”

“Our string of successes and victories inspires enormous appreciation in our region and throughout the world,” he says, adding that even Israel’s enemies recognize the scale of its achievements.

“They see the enormous destruction that Hamas and Hezbollah have brought upon themselves with their own hands,” he says. “They are staring at the elimination of their leaders in the first, second, and third echelons. In the fourth echelon. There are no echelons left.”

Netanyahu blasts the opposition for mocking his insistence on total victory. “Reality is stronger than your contempt and mockery,” he says.

Had Israel stopped the war before entering Gaza’s Rafah and taking control of the Philadelphi corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border, and before tackling Hezbollah, as many in the opposition had urged, says Netanyahu, this would have marked a victory for Iran and its axis of evil, and it “would not have freed anybody.”

“Time and again, it has been proven who was right and who was wrong.”

There are more challenges ahead of Israel, he warns. “We are not taking our eyes off Iran, which threatens to destroy us, and we are determined to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and other weapons that could threaten our cities and our homeland.”

Turning to Yemen, Netanyahu says that Israel’s recent strikes on the Houthis “are not the first and I will tell you that will not be the last. We have destroyed significant terrorist assets that the Houthi have, that were used against us.”

Netanyahu also says it is possible to expand the circle of peace around Israel. He blasts the idea that peace with Arab countries depends on peace with the Palestinians.

“You have no idea what you are talking about. And we brought about four historic peace agreements with the Abraham Accords. And now I am telling you there will be more agreements.”

“I’m not saying the Palestinian issue doesn’t make things hard for us,” he allows.

But “there is a change,” he says. “And if you think that our Arab neighbors do not see the reality that many of you here, at least some of you, are trying to deny, the tectonic changes that are taking place here are not happening by themselves.”

Israel’s success in the ongoing war, he claims, “creates opportunities for expanding the circle of peace, and the moderate Arab countries see Israel as a regional power and a possible ally for ensuring their security, the stability, and prosperity of the entire region. And I intend to fully exploit this opportunity, together with our American friends.”