In an interview, BBC presenter Anjana Gadgil highlighted the recent Israeli military attack in the city of Jenin, West Bank. In the interview with former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, she stated that the military operation had killed four minors under the age of 18.
“The Israeli military refers to this as a ‘military operation,’ but we now know that young children were killed, four of whom were under the age of eighteen. Is that really what the military intended to do? To kill people between the ages of 16 and 18?” said the presenter in a broadcast shared by Bennett on YouTube on Wednesday (5/7/2023).
However, Bennett argued that the 11 people killed in Jenin were “militants.” “The fact that there are young terrorists who have decided to take up arms is their responsibility,” he said.
Bennett further claimed that militants sent from the Jenin refugee camp had killed 50 Israeli citizens in several cases over the years. Jenin is considered a center of terror, so Israeli forces had to enter and neutralize the area.
According to Bennett, everyone who died in the operation were terrorists. “Terrorists, but children,” responded the BBC host to Bennett’s statement.
Gadgil then stated, “The Israeli forces happily kill children.” However, Bennett immediately denied this statement by asserting that the children had killed Israeli citizens.
Bennett then made a hypothetical scenario by stating that if a 17-year-old Palestinian killed Gadgil’s family and forced her response, how would she describe a 17-year-old with a gun shooting her family?
Gadgil emphasized that the conversation did not discuss that hypothetical situation. She also reiterated that the United Nations (UN) defined the victims as children, even though Israel considered them terrorists.
“The UN defines them as children. We know there were four people between the ages of 16 and 18 in the targeted attack. Let’s not forget, this was a targeted attack,” said Gadgil.
Bennett insisted that they had a different understanding because they targeted civilians, while the military targeted terrorists. He believed that his counterpart was making unacceptable statements.
“This is completely contradictory. We are doing the right thing, they are killing civilians,” said the former Israeli Prime Minister.
