Israel remains “absolutely committed to bringing back every last hostage” while completing all the objectives of the war in Gaza and continuing the battle against Iran and Tehran-backed organizations, Benjamin Netanyahu made clear, speaking at the October 7 commemoration ceremony on Mount Herzl.

“The struggle is not over. But one thing is clear today: whoever raises a hand against us already knows that he will pay a very heavy price for his aggression,” Netanyahu warned. “We are determined to complete the victory that will shape the course of our lives for many years to come.”
He added.

Addressing the families of the victims, the prime minister acknowledged “the magnitude of their suffering” and expressed the nation’s gratitude to all the soldiers who fought: “Jews, Druze, Christians, Muslims, Bedouins, Circassians and members of other communities” who stood “side by side to achieve all the aims of the war.”

Responding to international accusations of “genocide” in Gaza, Netanyahu argued that the term “corresponds more closely to what Israel suffered on October 7.” As he said, “on that day we received a shocking illustration of the concept of ‘genocide’ – not an imaginary one, such as the one hurled at us through anti-Semitic lies, but the real one.”

“If these murderers could, they would have slaughtered us all,” he said, referring to the Hamas terrorists. “This is the true face of genocide,” he added, noting that the attack revealed the intent of “the regime of Iran and its allies to strangle Israel in a cycle of murderous fire.”

Netanyahu stressed that the enemies “did not calculate the power that lies within us” and stressed that “Israel stood up as one body.” “We took the battle to the enemy’s territory and hit him with crushing blows,” he said.

He called Israel “a barrier against the forces of destruction of radical Islam” and praised the country’s military as “the protective wall that separates us from them.” He said the soldiers “fought with supreme heroism and impressive ingenuity.”

“From the valley of tears of October 7, we reached Mount Hermon, the skies of Tehran and the touching embrace of the families of the hostages with their loved ones,” he said.

Continuing his speech, Netanyahu said that as the war in Gaza draws to a close, “great challenges and important opportunities for peace lie ahead.” Referring to the successes of the armed forces, he noted that “great threats remain from enemies seeking to rearm,” making an indirect reference to the Iranian regime, whose nuclear facilities were hit by an Israeli strike in June.

“Great challenges, but also great opportunities for widening the circle of peace,” he stressed, expressing optimism about the continuation of normalization agreements with Arab countries after the end of the war.

In closing, Netanyahu stressed the need for national unity: “We are acting simultaneously on two levels – war and peace. And what is required in both is unity: unity in war and unity in peace. We will achieve all our goals only through internal cohesion, mutual responsibility and strengthening the ties that unite us instead of dividing us.”