‘A cease-fire is not an option’: Netanyahu says any stop in fighting is a ‘surrender to Hamas’ and praises Congress for censuring anti-Semitic Rep. Talaib

Benjamin Netanyahu ruled out a ceasefire in Gaza and accused Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib of calling for the “genocide” of the Jewish people while vowing to win the war against Hamas.

Israel’s prime minister attacked anti-Israel protesters at American universities, accusing them of “moral turpitude,” and vowed to continue the war in Gaza “however long it takes.”

Speaking on Fox News, the Israeli leader rejected suggestions of a rift with the White House after agreeing to Joe Biden’s call for a second humanitarian corridor away from northern Gaza.

But he insisted there would be no ceasefire after the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack that killed more than 1,400 Israelis and took hundreds of others hostage.

“A ceasefire with Hamas means surrender to Hamas and surrender to terror,” he added.

“We will continue until we eradicate Hamas and nothing can stop that.”

Biden was also dismissive of the chances of a ceasefire, insisting there was “no possibility, none” as he left the White House for Illinois earlier today.

But the White House revealed Thursday that Israel had agreed to open a second corridor for civilians to flee northern Gaza – along the territory’s coastal highway – to complement the first corridor along the main north-south highway.

A series of four-hour daily humanitarian pauses in the attack on Hamas in northern Gaza will come into effect as part of an effort to get hostages out.

And Netanyahu hinted that freeing the 239 hostages seized by Hamas could make a difference.

“There will be no ceasefire without the release of the Israeli hostages, that’s not going to happen,” he said.

In Qatar – which also played a role in the release of four hostages by Hamas last month – indirect talks took place about a wider release of hostages.

CIA Director William Burns was in Doha on Thursday to discuss efforts to secure the release of hostages in Gaza with the Qatari prime minister and the head of Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad.

But the Israeli prime minister insisted Hamas would be destroyed before the war ended and Gaza was “demilitarized and deradicalized.”

And he praised Congress for voting to censure Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib for her repeated calls for a free Palestine “from the river to the sea.”

She also accused Biden of supporting “genocide” in Gaza and “complicity” in the deaths of children in the Middle East.

“From the river to the sea means there is no Israel, from the Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea, which by the way is a small area that includes Israel, there is no Israel,” Netanyahu replied.

“And so what this congressman is advocating is genocide, the elimination of the Jewish state, the one and only Jewish state of the Jewish people.”

“I really appreciate the support that President Biden has shown and frankly it’s very important that the American people and Congress have shown on both sides of the aisle.”

On Tuesday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog sent a letter to the presidents of 700 American universities and colleges, calling for action against rising anti-Semitism on their campuses.

Rights groups have warned that Jewish and Israeli students face abuse on campuses, where left-wing student groups and professors often side with Palestinians and rail against Israeli oppression.

Netanyahu repeated this call as he denounced the protests against the war in Gaza and emphasized that Israel was fighting on behalf of the “entire civilized world.”

“They are lining up for Isis, for Al Qaeda, for these baby killers, these rapists, these head choppers.

‘We must protect our future and can our world survive if people go along with such moral confusion and moral depravity.

‘It is an indictment of higher education in the West when highly educated people cannot distinguish between right and wrong, and between right and wrong.

“Hamas is evil and we must defeat evil, not protest and demonstrate on behalf of evil.”