Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the Gaza Strip needs a new administration if and when his country's war on Hamas ends – not the Palestinian Authority that governs the West Bank. as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has suggested.
"As far as the civilian management of Gaza, we need to see the following two things: Gaza has to be demilitarized and Gaza has to be de-radicalized," Netanyahu said Sunday on NBC News' "Meet the Press." "And I think so far we haven't seen any Palestinian force, including the Palestinian Authority, that is able to do it."
He argued the Palestinian Authority has been accused of teaching antisemitism to their children and operates a "pay for slay" program that gives money to the families of Palestinian terrorists who died or were jailed as a result of an attack against Israel.
Netanyahu also said that the Palestinian Authority has yet to condemn the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack, in which roughly 1,200 people were killed and 240 others kidnapped.
When host Kristen Welker pushed Netanyahu about who would run the post-war government, he responded: "I think it's too early to say, but I can say one thing. The first task we have to achieve is defeat Hamas. The first task the Allies had to achieve before they could reconstruct Germany was to defeat the Nazis.
He also said Israel, which declare war on Hamas after the attacks, will first to create a "demilitarized and a de-radicalized Gaza, which will give hope to these people."
"They're living under 16 years of horrendous tyrannical rule of Hamas. We'll liberate them and we'll liberate ourselves from this horror, this scourge of barbarism that plagues not only us."
Blinken said last week that there should be no "re-occupation" of Gaza, form which Israel disengaged in 2005. He remained open to the possibility of a "transition period."
He also said that eventually Gaza's government "must include Palestinian-led governance and Gaza unified with the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority," according to The New York Times.
Similarly, last month President Joe Biden said it would be a "big mistake" for Israel to "occupy Gaza again."
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