London – In an interview with BBC on Tuesday evening, former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett was faced with a claim that Israeli soldiers “are happy to kill children.”
“The Israeli forces are happy to kill children,” the BBC anchorwoman Anjana Gadgil said, referring to reports that four Palestinians aged between 16 and 18 were killed during the recent IDF counterterrorism operation in the West Bank city of Jenin.
“It’s quite remarkable that you’d say that, because they are killing us. If there is a 17-year-old Palestinian that’s shooting at your family, what is it?” Bennett responded.
“Under your definition, you are calling them terrorists, the UN is calling them children,” the anchor replied. “No, no, I’m actually asking you: What would you call a 17-year-old person with a rifle shooting at your family and murdering your own family? How would you define that person?” Bennett insisted.
“We’re not talking about that,” the interviewer continued.
“The UN has defined them as children, and we know that four people between the age of 16 and 18 have been killed in this targeted attack. Let’s not forget it’s a targeted attack. The Israeli forces are going and looking for these people,” she said.
“I’m missing something. You know, a 17-year-old terrorist can murder civilians. There’s a fundamental difference between what they’re doing, which is explicitly and deliberately targeting civilians, and what we’re doing, which is targeting terrorists. That’s exactly the opposite,” Bennett explained.
“We’re doing the right thing, they’re killing civilians and the fact that you’re creating this as morally equivalent or even worse, I think it’s unacceptable,” he stressed.
