Netanyahu says Israel 'reserves right to return to war'
Newshour
BBC
4.2 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 18 January 2025
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, says his country reserved the right to go back to war in Gaza if the negotiations for a second phase of the ceasefire are fruitless.
Also on the programme: pro-Trump and anti-Trump demonstrators are making their feelings known across the US before his inauguration; and a content creator explains the impact that a TikTok ban had in India and how that could reflect in the US.
(Photo: Families of hostages rally in Tel Aviv, Israel. Credit: ATEF SAFADI/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to NewsHour from the BBC World Service, coming to you live from London. I'm Paul Henley. |
| 0:10.6 | There are fresh doubts about the durability of an agreement for a ceasefire in Gaza, |
| 0:16.1 | after the Israeli Prime Minister warned that he wouldn't proceed with the plan unless he received the names from Hamas of the first hostages due to be released tomorrow. |
| 0:25.8 | The deal ratified by the majority of the Israeli cabinet is due to come into effect tomorrow. |
| 0:31.0 | But Benjamin Netanyahu, in his first public statement since that ratification, made it clear Israel reserved the right to go back to war. |
| 0:39.6 | He said he had the backing of the United States. |
| 0:46.6 | Before the next phases, we are keeping very significant assets in our hands in order to bring |
| 0:52.0 | all the hostages home in order to keep all the goals |
| 0:55.9 | and objectives of the war. Both President Trump and President Biden are given full backing |
| 1:02.6 | to Israel's right to return to combat. If Israel concludes that negotiations on phase |
| 1:08.4 | B are futile. |
| 1:12.8 | I greatly appreciate that. |
| 1:16.3 | I also appreciate President Trump's decision to ensure that we will have all the weapons and ammunition that we need. |
| 1:22.9 | If we have to return to fighting, |
| 1:25.5 | we will do so in new ways, |
| 1:30.0 | and we will do so with great force. |
| 1:35.9 | The BBC's Jonah Fisher in Jerusalem gave me his assessment of the Israeli Prime Minister's speech. |
| 1:39.4 | This certainly wasn't a peace in our time speech, was it? It was very much that Israel retained the right to go back to war, |
| 1:43.8 | that after this six-week first phase of this ceasefire agreement expires. And Mr. Netanyahu was very keen to stress that he had the backing of the United States to do so if he needed to do so, and that they had the assets that they needed to go and complete their |
| 2:02.7 | objectives in Gaza if that was so needed. Yeah, so certainly not a message that gives one great |
| 2:09.7 | confidence that this is going to be a lasting permanent ceasefire, but the reason behind that |
| 2:15.4 | is because there are lots of political factors here in Israel, which make it very difficult for Mr. Netanyahu to talk about this being a permanent arrangement. And that's why often when we see statements from the government about it, they talk more about it being a hostage deal rather than being a ceasefire agreement because it's more palatable to elements, |
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