Dermer: IDF to conduct Rafah operation even if entire world shuns us

• Published date: 22 March 2024
• Author: TOVAH LAZAROFF
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

"We're gonna go in and finish this job, and anybody who doesn't understand that doesn't understand that the nerve of the Jews, that existential nerve, was touched" by Hamas's invasion of Israel on October 7, which sparked the Gaza war, Dermer said

He spoke on an episode of the Call Me Back podcast with Dan Senor amid a stiff diplomatic battle with the Biden administration about Rafah, which is last Hamas stronghold in Gaza.

The Rafah operation is "going to happen, and it will happen, even if Israel is forced to fight alone, even if the entire world turns on Israel, including the United States," he stated.

Israel is determined to destroy Hamas, even if it "leads to a potential breach with the United States," Dermer said.

In Cairo US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the Biden administration does not support a major Rafah operation. In Washington US official are expected to lay out for Dermer and Israeli National Security Adviser Tzahi Hanegbi alternative plans, which they claim could eliminate Hamas through targeted operations.

"We will listen to what they have to say," Dermer said, but a major military operation in Rafah is the only way to destroy Hamas.

He noted that the US and Israel's other allies, want it to eliminate Hamas but to do so in three weeks and without any civilian casualties.

The importance of destroying...