United States Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday, July 25 raised concern over the casualties in Gaza and asked Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to get a peace deal done.
“We cannot look away in the face of these tragedies. We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering, and I will not be silent,” said Harris who is in the race to succeed the incumbent president Joe Biden.
“What has happened in Gaza over the past nine months is devastating. The images of dead children and desperate hungry people fleeing for safety, sometimes displaced for the second, third or fourth time,” added Harris.
Harris remarks comes on the heels of Israeli Prime Minister meeting the US president Joe Biden President Biden’s Oval Office on Thursday, July 25. According to the reports, Netanyahu and Biden discussed the ceasefire and hostage negotiations in detail, where the latter “expressed the need to close the remaining gaps, finalize the deal as soon as possible, bring the hostages home, and reach a durable end to the war in Gaza”.
Later on the Israeli Prime Minister also interacted with Kamla Harris following which she expressed her desire to be more vocal on the issue of war causalities while asserting that Israel has a right to defend itself and the terrorist organisation Hamas had triggered the war and had committed horrific acts of sexual violence.
Netanyahu’s address to the US Congress
This comes a day after Netanyahu addresses a joint session of US congress on Wednesday, July 24 promising a “total victory” over Gaza. Addressing the session, the Israeli Prime Minister said that “We meet today at a crossroads of history. Our world is in upheaval. In the Middle East, Iran’s axis of terror confronts America, Israel and our Arab friends.
“This is not a clash of civilizations. It’s a clash between barbarism and civilization. It’s a clash between those who glorify death and those who sanctify life. For the forces of civilization to triumph, America and Israel must stand together. Because when we stand together, something very simple happens. We win. They lose, he added.
Recalling the attack of October 7, Netanyahu said that “It was the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah. It began as a perfect day. Not a cloud in the sky. Thousands of young Israelis were celebrating at an outdoor music festival. And suddenly, at 6:29 a.m., as children were still sleeping soundly in their beds in the towns and kibbutzim next to Gaza, suddenly heaven turned into hell. Three thousand Hamas terrorists stormed into Israel. They butchered 1,200 people from 41 countries, including 39 Americans.”
He further quoted that “the terrorist raped women, beheaded men, burnt babies alive, they killed parents in front of their children and children in front of their parents. They dragged 255 people, both living in dead, into the dark dungeons of Gaza”.
Talking about the hostages and Israel’s efforts towards bringing them back the Israel Prime Minister informed that 135 hostages, including seven who were freed in daring rescue operations have already been reunited with their families while pointing out that one of those freed hostages, Noa Argamani, is here in the gallery sitting near my wife Sara.
He further quoted that “on the morning of October 7th, the entire world saw Noa’s look of desperation as she was violently abducted to Gaza on the back of a motorcycle. I met Noa’s mother Liora a few months ago. She was dying of cancer. She said to me, “Prime Minister, I have one final wish. I wish to hug my daughter Noa one last time before I die.”
Two months ago, I authorized a breath taking commando rescue operation. Our Special Forces, including a heroic officer named Arnon Zmora, who fell in this battle, rescued Noa and three other hostages. I think it’s one of the most moving things, when Noa was reunited with her mother, Liora, and her mother’s last wish came true, added Netanyahu.
Launching a vicious attack on those supporting the cause of the Hamas, Netanyahu sad that “Defeating our brutal enemies requires both courage and clarity. Clarity begins by knowing the difference between good and evil. Yet incredibly many anti-Israel protesters, many choose to stand with evil.
They stand with Hamas. They stand with rapists and murderers. They stand with people who came into the kibbutzim, into a home, the parents hid the children, the two babies, in the attic, in a secret attic. They murdered the family, the parents, they found the secret latch to the hidden attic and then they murdered the babies. These protesters stand with them. They should be ashamed of themselves, he added.
Netanyahu also emphasised on the support provided to the radical groups by Iran and said that in the Middle East, Iran is virtually behind all the terrorism, all the turmoil, all the chaos, all the killing. He further alleged that Iran uses its many proxies, including the Houthis, Hezbollah and Hamas to attain its unfulfilled goal of conquering the Middle East.
Notably the State of Israel is locked in a deadly conflict with the terror entity Hamas who sparked a war by launching a surprise attack on Israel on October 7 last year killing around 1200 Israeli citizens and taking around 250 of them as hostages.
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