Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that the International Court of Justice will not deter Israel from continuing its war in the Gaza Strip until complete victory is achieved, and hinted at the possibility of Israel taking control of the Philadelphia axis.
Netanyahu’s statements come a day after the International Court of Justice heard the lawsuit filed by South Africa accusing Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinians.
“No one will stop us, not The Hague, not the axis of evil, no one,” Netanyahu said in a speech broadcast on Israeli state television.
He described the case against Israel as an attack on the Jewish state, hypocrisy and decadence.
Netanyahu said, “What is happening in The Hague is a moral disgrace, and no one will prevent us from fighting until victory in Gaza.”
He added, “The attack on the Jewish state is considered hypocrisy and degradation in human history against a people who rose from the ashes of the Holocaust.”
The Israeli Prime Minister said, “I made clear to US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken that this war is not only our war, but also your war, and it is a war against the axis of evil.”
A hint of Israeli control over the Philadelphia axis
In reference to what appear to be Israeli efforts to control the Philadelphia axis, Netanyahu said – during a press conference held today, Saturday – “We will not end the war without closing the gap in the Philadelphia axis, otherwise the entry of weapons will continue,” as he put it.
In response to a journalist’s question about his statements regarding the axis, Netanyahu said that Israel has not yet taken a decision regarding possible military control of the vital axis located on the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.
Netanyahu stressed that closing the border area to isolate the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) is one of the goals of the current Israeli war on Gaza, and indicated that Tel Aviv is considering several options, including transferring military forces to Philadelphia.
Netanyahu added that Israel will not allow the Palestinians to return to the northern Gaza Strip as long as fighting continues there.
For his part, Israeli Army Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy said that Israel will consider allowing the return of displaced Palestinian civilians from the northern Gaza Strip to their homes when it deems there is no danger to them as a result of the ongoing battles between the Israeli army and Hamas.
Halevy said in a televised statement, “We do not forget and we will not forget, and we will continue to remind even those who try to deny, that we are fighting for our right to live here in safety.”
