{"id":515920,"date":"2021-05-16T23:05:54","date_gmt":"2021-05-17T03:05:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=515920"},"modified":"2021-05-16T23:05:56","modified_gmt":"2021-05-17T03:05:56","slug":"netanyahu-blasts-claims-that-ap-reporters-were-lucky-to-get-out-of-building-it-wasnt-luck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/netanyahu-blasts-claims-that-ap-reporters-were-lucky-to-get-out-of-building-it-wasnt-luck\/","title":{"rendered":"Netanyahu Blasts Claims That AP Reporters Were \u2018Lucky\u2019 To Get Out Of Building: \u2018It Wasn\u2019t Luck\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">32<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fnetanyahu-blasts-claims-that-ap-reporters-were-lucky-to-get-out-of-building-it-wasnt-luck%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=515920&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Netanyahu-1200x800-1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"  style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n<p>Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday slammed those who claimed that reporters with the Associated Press were \u201clucky\u201d to get out of a building over the weekend that Israel\u2019s military leveled, saying that they weren\u2019t \u201clucky\u201d because Israel warned them and told them to get out of the building.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe interesting thing is I would say that, you know, all the journalists, one of the, I think, AP journalists said we were lucky to get out,\u201d Netanyahu said on CBS News\u2019 \u201cFace The Nation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo, you weren\u2019t lucky to get out. It wasn\u2019t luck,\u201d Netanyahu continued. \u201cIt\u2019s because we took special pains to call people in those buildings to make sure that the premises were vacated. And that\u2019s why we brought down that building.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd look, you have your own experiences, I think, in Mosul, [in] Fallujah, [in] Afghanistan,\u201d he added. \u201cI think you can appreciate the efforts we go through in dense urban fighting when terrorists are targeting civilians who are hiding behind civilians, how difficult that is. We do our best to avoid civilian casualties. And we did that yesterday with that building as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id>\n<p><em>JOHN DICKERSON: Good morning, Mr. Prime Minister, thank you for being with us.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL BIBI NETANYAHU: Good morning.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>JOHN DICKERSON: I want to start with \u2014 yesterday was the worst clash in this seven-day conflict. The last one of a similar sort in 2014 lasted six weeks. How much longer are these hostilities going to continue?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Well, we hope that it doesn\u2019t continue very long, but we were attacked by Hamas on our National Day, Jerusalem Day, attacked \u2014 unprovoked attacks on Jerusalem and then thousands of rockets and missiles on our cities. And I think any country has to defend itself. It has a natural right of self-defense. We\u2019ll do whatever it takes to restore order and quiet and the security of our people and deterrence. We\u2019re trying to degrade Hamas\u2019 terrorist abilities and to degrade their will to do this again. So it\u2019ll take some time. I hope it won\u2019t take long, but it\u2019s not immediate.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>JOHN DICKERSON: Twenty-nine hundred rockets fired from Hamas, according to one report. But there\u2019s also a report that Egypt offered a truce. Hamas said yes. You said no. Why?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Well, that\u2019s not what I know, and frankly, if Hamas thought that they could just fire rockets and then sit back and enjoy immunity, that\u2019s false. We are targeting a terrorist organization that is targeting our civilians and hiding behind their civilians, using them as human shields. We\u2019re doing everything we can to hit the terrorists themselves, their rockets, their rocket caches and their arms. But we\u2019re not going to just let them get away with it. Neither would you. I mean, just imagine what would have happened if you had 2,900 rockets fired on Washington and New York and others. I think you would understand our position. I think you do actually.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>JOHN DICKERSON: The precision of that targeting has been up for question. There\u2019s been a lot of focus on the bombing on Saturday in Gaza of a building that housed the Associated Press and Al Jazeera. The Committee to Protect Journalists demanded \u201cdetailed and documented justification.\u201d This morning, there\u2019s a Jerusalem Post story that says the Americans were shown a smoking gun, that \u2014 proof that Hamas was in that building. What is that proof? And did you show it to the Americans?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Well, we share with our American friends all that intelligence, and here\u2019s the intelligence we had \u2014 it\u2019s about Palestinian terrorist, an intelligence office for the Palestinian terrorist organization housed in that building that plots and organizes the terror attacks against Israeli civilians. So it\u2019s a perfectly legitimate target. And I can tell you that we took every precaution to make sure that there were no civilian injuries. In fact, no deaths, no injuries whatsoever. Well, I can\u2019t say injuries, I don\u2019t know if somebody received a fragment of a stone. I don\u2019t know that. But no people were killed. Now, imagine, ask yourself, \u201cHow is that possible?\u201d You see these high rise towers that are used by Hamas over and over again. They collapse and no one is killed. Why does that happen? Because we, unlike Hamas, take special precautions to tell people, leave the building, leave the premises. We make sure that everyone is gone before we bring down those terrorist facilities. And that\u2019s the difference between Israel and Hamas. They deliberately target our cities, deliberately target our civilians. They glorify the death of children and civilians and old people. They are happy with it. I think they\u2019re happy with any deaths that are caused to them. We grieve for every non-combatant loss in Gaza and we grieve for all our civilians who died.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>JOHN DICKERSON: We want to get to\u2013<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: But we don\u2019t \u2014 we\u2019re not happy with it and we try to minimize it.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>JOHN DICKERSON: I want to get to minimizing those casualties. But you spoke with President Biden yesterday. It\u2019s inconceivable you would have talked to him and not shared proof of Hamas in those buildings that housed the journalists. Did you share that with him?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Well, we pass it through the intelligence services to our people, to those people. Why do you think we brought down that building? The interesting thing is, I would say that, you know, all the journalists, one of the, I think, AP journalists said we were lucky to get out. No, you weren\u2019t lucky to get out. It wasn\u2019t luck. It\u2019s because we took special pains to call people in those buildings to make sure that the premises were vacated. And that\u2019s why we brought down that building. And look, you have your own experiences, I think, in Mosul, in Fallujah, in Afghanistan. I think you can appreciate the efforts we go through in dense urban fighting when terrorists are targeting civilians who are hiding behind civilians, how difficult that is. We do our best to avoid civilian casualties. And we did that yesterday with that building as well.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>JOHN DICKERSON: And Mr. Prime Minister, the arguments about how careful Israel have been are familiar ones to your critics. And in this case, with 181 Palestinians dead, 52 of them children, there\u2019s significant criticism. Amnesty International has asked the International Criminal Court to look into a refugee camp attack. The UN is meeting today. Foreign ministers of the EU are meeting, and the response has been like this one from the foreign minister of Ireland: \u201cIsrael has international legal obligation to protect children in conflict and are not doing so.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: That\u2019s just false. I mean, the reason we have these casualties is because Hamas is criminally attacking us from civilian neighborhoods, from schools, from homes, from office buildings. That\u2019s what they\u2019re doing.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>JOHN DICKERSON: But\u2013<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: And we\u2019re taking action, trying to target them with as great precision as we can. Unfortunately, there are occasionally civilian casualties, which we regret. But here\u2019s what happens. When the international community attacks Israel, they\u2019re actually encouraging Hamas to continue these attacks because Hamas says it\u2019s great, we\u2019re both killing Israeli civilians. And unfortunately, some of our \u2014 and they\u2019re happy with their own civilian casualties because it gets the international community to focus their attacks on Israel instead of Hamas.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>JOHN DICKERSON: But it\u2019s\u2013<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: That\u2019s wrong. It\u2019s both wrong and unproductive. Because actually what it does is prolong the conflict and escalate and increase the number of casualties that happen as a result of the continuation of the conflict.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>JOHN DICKERSON: But the question, Mr. Prime Minister, is U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken said that Israel has an extra burden, that Israel, because of its strength and power and dominance, has an extra burden on these questions of casualties. The question is whether Israel is meeting its extra burden in responding to these rocket attacks from Hamas.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Certainly are, and I can tell you that there have been many studies by serious military analysts who have compared Israel\u2019s actions with that of other Western armies in similar situations, fighting radical Islamists, whether it\u2019s in Iraq or in Afghanistan or elsewhere. And you know how prolonged those conflicts are, how many casualties are caused. So I think there has to be a measure of fairness. There has to be a measure of reasonableness in projecting this kind of criticism against the Israeli army that is second to none in seeking to minimize civilian casualties while protecting our own civilians. You know, if Hamas would simply move these rockets out of the civilian areas, if they moved their command posts out of these homes and offices, then there wouldn\u2019t be any problem.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>JOHN DICKERSON: Let me ask you, Mr. Prime\u2013<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: You know it. And I know it. But the fact is they\u2019re sending thousands of rockets on our cities with the specific purpose of murdering our civilians from these places.\u2013<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>JOHN DICKERSON: Let me ask you\u2013<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: What would you do?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>JOHN DICKERSON: Let me ask you\u2013<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: If it happened to Washington or to New York? You know damn well what you would do.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>JOHN DICKERSON: Mr. Prime Minister, let me ask\u2013<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: You\u2019d do at the very least what we\u2019re doing.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>JOHN DICKERSON: \u2013a broader question. Let me ask you a broader question that was articulated by Senator Bernie Sanders, which is distinct from the clashes over the last week. His argument is that the treatment of the Palestinians is so rough that they are marginalized, demonized in such a fashion that there can never be peace, never be a two-state solution, and that your treatment of the Palestinians outside of this week creates conditions that are always going to lead to this kind of unrest, not just the missile attacks, but the riots you see in cities. What\u2019s your response to that?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Well, let\u2019s divide it into two. First of all, the Hamas is not is not attacking us because they\u2019re trying to increase the welfare of Palestinians. In fact, they\u2019re taking huge sums to build the terror tunnels, which we\u2019ve been able to neutralize, to have rockets, missiles, and other armaments. They\u2019re not building up Gaza. They\u2019re doing everything in their power to turn it into a fortified terror camp in order to destroy Israel. And they openly say their goal is to destroy Israel. They\u2019re not interested in any kind of coexistence \u2026 the kind of peace, the four peace treaties that I\u2019ve made with Arab countries that are changing the Middle East. They\u2019re trying everything in their power to avoid the path of peace and reconciliation. So I think any objective observer understands that Hamas is out to destroy the state of Israel and they\u2019re not a partner. And as far as the citizens of Israel or Arabs, I\u2019ve done more than any other prime minister and spent billions and billions of dollars in Israeli shekels and five times more than all the previous governments combined to ensure that our Israeli Arab citizens, all of them\u2014<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>JOHN DICKERSON: Mr. Prime\u2013<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: \u2013can be part of the Israeli miracle, the great economic success story. I\u2019ve invested that because I believe in it. I didn\u2019t do it now and I didn\u2019t do it for CBS FACE THE NATION. I really believe in this. There has been a minority, a violent minority that has tried to challenge that as well and to kill innocent people.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>JOHN DICKERSON: Mr. Prime Minister, let me\u2013<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: I won\u2019t tolerate that. Neither Arabs killing Israelis\u2013<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>JOHN DICKERSON: Before we lose you\u2013<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: \u2013or Jews killing Arabs or Arabs killing Jews.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>JOHN DICKERSON: Let me ask. I want you to respond to one other thing before we go, which is your domestic challenges. You are under investigation for bribery, fraud, breach of trust. You\u2019ve also had some difficulty, four failed attempts to put together a government in the last 23 months. This leads to the criticism that your current actions are basically an effort to stay in power. And what\u2019s your response to that?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: That\u2019s preposterous. You know, when I was a young soldier, 18 years old, I held a fellow soldier who died in my arms. A few years later, my brother, my older brother, died while leading a rescue mission in Entebbe, Uganda, to release Israeli hostages. I\u2019ve seen combatants fall. I\u2019ve seen my brother fall. And I think anybody who knows me knows that I\u2019ve never, ever subordinated security concerns, the life of our soldiers, the life of our citizens for political interests. That\u2019s just hogwash. I\u2019ll do what I have to do to protect the lives of Israeli citizens and to restore peace. I\u2019ve made peace with four Arab countries. I\u2019m glad that we have a restoration of some considerable calm within Israel. That\u2019s my goal, to restore peace and quiet and to assure tranquility and reconciliation for all.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>JOHN DICKERSON: But this is a persistent criticism, Mr. Prime Minister. Why do you think it persists?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: It persists because I\u2019ve been re-elected five times. It persists because I beat every other candidate in public polls and in direct election simulations \u2014 apparently the people of Israel, the majority, don\u2019t agree with this false criticism and the cynicism. They know that I\u2019m standing there for Israel and I\u2019m doing everything I can for the safety and prosperity of the Israeli people. By the way, all of Israel\u2019s citizens, Jews and Arabs alike.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>JOHN DICKERSON: All right, Mr. Prime Minister, we\u2019re out of time. Thanks so much for being with us.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><i><span>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><i><span>member<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday slammed those who claimed that reporters with the Associated Press were \u201clucky\u201d to get out of a building over the weekend that Israel\u2019s &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2278277,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Netanyahu-1200x800-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Netanyahu Blasts Claims That AP Reporters Were \u2018Lucky\u2019 To Get Out Of Building: \u2018It Wasn\u2019t Luck\u2019","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-515920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Netanyahu-1200x800-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Netanyahu Blasts Claims That AP Reporters Were \u2018Lucky\u2019 To Get Out Of Building: \u2018It Wasn\u2019t Luck\u2019","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=515920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2278277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=515920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=515920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=515920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}