Spencer described the current war, also titled Operation Swords of Iron, as “one of the most historic wars of our generation” at the beginning of the interview, noting it as a “generational war.”
JERUSALEM POST STAFF MARCH 16, 2024 01:55
Updated: MARCH 16, 2024 19:47
In an interview with a scholar at West Point’s Modern War Institute posted on X on Friday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu explained why it was imperative for Israel to enter Rafah to win the war.
Netanyahu met with John Spencer, Chair of Urban Warfare Studies while on his visit to Israel.
Spencer described the current war, also titled Operation Swords of Iron, as “one of the most historic wars of our generation” at the beginning of the interview, also noting it as a “generational war.”
Spencer also notes in the interview the importance of not forgetting past wars that took place in urban locations, to which the prime minister noted the Battle of Manila of 1945 during World War II, where the two drew comparisons between it and the Hamas war in regards to the utilization of underground tunnels and embedment within the civilian population – actions in which Hamas has been recorded to have done.
While I was in Israel recently I had the opportunity to interview Prime Minister Netanyahu @netanyahu on the ongoing Israel-Hamas War. We discussed everything from the strategic goals of the war, historic comparisons, to the progress of the @IDF pic.twitter.com/cRH2wUvHV3
— John Spencer (@SpencerGuard) March 15, 2024
Netanyahu went on to say that victory against the terrorist organization is “within reach” and that three-quarters of their fighting battalions have been destroyed. He has said that the IDF “intends to complete the job while evacuating civilians and taking care to provide them humanitarian aid.”
Limiting civilian casualties
Spencer also said that the IDF takes more measures to limit civilian casualties than the United States army had in previous wars, noting that the US military “didn’t give warning” in many cases in urban areas. Both men acknowledge that Israel giving such warning to Palestinian civilians gives Hamas a military advantage over the IDF.
“If you say you cannot attack an enemy that embeds itself in an urban area, while they attack your urban areas, you’re effectively saying ‘I can’t fight, I lose the war.'” He relates this to why there’s been pressure on Israel to not send its forces into Rafah. The prime minister said that this would effectively cause Israel to lose the war.
Additionally, Netanyahu describes two campaigns that Israel is engaged in. The first is the military campaign to defeat Hamas, and the other is the diplomatic campaign to the world to give Israel time to achieve the military campaign. The Israeli leader said that “it goes through one basic place, and that is the United States of America.”
Content retrieved from: https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-792183.