"Resurrection War:" Netanyahu proposes renaming conflit
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has submitted a proprosal to rename the war launched following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks to “Resurrection War.”
The conflict is currently named “Swords of Iron.”
“This is the ‘resurrection war’ to ensure that October 7 never happens again,” Netanyahu said Monday at a government meeting marking the one-year anniversary of the attacks, according to a statement from the prime minister’s office.
“This is a war for our existence,” the prime minister said, adding the war will not end until all of its goals are completed, which include destroying Hamas, retrieving the hostages, “thwarting any future threat from Gaza” and returning evacuated citizens of the north back to their homes.
Hamas’ attack a year ago was the worst atrocity on the Jewish people since the Holocaust. Netanyahu said that “unlike during the Holocaust — we rose up against our enemies to fight a fierce war.”
Opposition head Yair Lapid shot back at the prime minister’s suggested name. “You can change as many names as you’d like, (but) you won’t change the fact that under your watch, the worst catastrophe in Israel’s history has occurred,” Lapid wrote on Telegram. This government isn’t the government of resurrection, it is the government of blame.”
The Hostage Families Forum in a statement said: “There is no and there won’t be a resurrection without returning all the hostages.”
Former Israeli security chief: No complete victory possible in Gaza, Lebanon
The former head of Israel’s National Security Council, Giora Eiland, says Israel will not be able to achieve “complete victory” in Gaza or Lebanon.
In an interview with the Israeli Channel 12, Eiland reiterated Hamas and Hezbollah “will not surrender and there will always be those who continue to fire”. He added that continuing the war on two fronts won’t serve Israel’s interest and it would be “wise” to open the door to political settlements.
“It is unfortunate to continue believing that military pressure in Gaza and Lebanon alone can achieve salvation,” Eiland said.
Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s armed wing, earlier launched a barrage of missiles from southern Gaza towards Tel Aviv on the anniversary of the deadly October 7 attack.
