Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Wednesday was pressed in an interview with CNN about civilian casualties in Israel’s air strikes on Gaza.
The interviewer acknowledged that the terrorist organizations are using civilians as human shield, but asked Bennett whether Israel has an obligation to work around those human shields.
“Israel has an obligation to defend its people. What would you do if your kids…would you allow them to be next to rocket launchers?” Bennett replied, to which the interviewer retorted: “No I wouldn’t, but I wouldn’t target civilians, and this is my question to you.”
“Nobody is targeting civilians,” Bennett clarified, and the interviewer asked, “Mr. Bennett, are you accusing children of being part of this?”
“No, I’m accusing Islamic Jihad of murdering its own children by cynically shooting rockets at Israeli children but surrounding their own weapons with civilians in Gaza. There is no method that is more cowardly than what they’re doing, and shame on them. And I do suggest that they stop immediately killing their own children in a cynical method,” explained Bennett.
“I think it’s oh so very convenient to sit in rooms around the world and criticize Israel, who is fighting to defend our people. And I’m not ashamed of that. I don’t apologize for that. I’m proud to defend our people,” he stated.