Pope Francis called for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas during his weekly, Sunday address in Saint Peter’s Square in Vatican City.
“In Gaza, spaces must be left to guarantee humanitarian aid and the hostages must be released immediately,” the pope said. “Cease fire! Cease fire! Stop, brothers and sisters. War is always a defeat.”
Let the arms cease. Stop, brothers and sisters: war is always a defeat — always, always!
— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) October 29, 2023
Michael Oren, the former Israeli ambassador to the United States, said on Monday on Megyn Kelly’s podcast that “a ceasefire for Israel is death. Simply put, death.”
“Ceasefire means that Hamas gets away with mass murder of the worst, most heinous type,” Oren said. “A ceasefire means Israel will never be able to restore its internal security. We have 3,000 evacuees living in hotels. Living in other people’s houses. They won’t get to go back to their homes.”
“If you have children, would you bring your children back to a border community that has sustained that type of carnage and Hamas is not deterred, Hama is allowed to restore its arsenals?” he said. “Make new plans for the next attack.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed calls for a ceasefire during a Monday address. “Just as the United States would not agree to a ceasefire after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, or after the terrorist attack of 9/11, Israel will not agree to a cessation of hostilities with Hamas after the horrific attacks of Oct. 7,” he said.
Also on Sunday, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Norah O’Donnell, of CBS, that those “calling for a ceasefire now do not understand Hamas.”
“It would be such a gift to Hamas because they would spend whatever time there was a ceasefire in effect rebuilding their armaments, creating stronger positions to be able to fend off an eventual assault by the Israelis,” Clinton said.