Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's longest serving prime minister and by far the dominant force in its politics, has not budged from what he believes is the essential truth about the war in Gaza.
He has given Israel – and the outside world – a consistent message since Hamas attacked Israel almost two years ago. He stated it clearly when he ordered the first big ground offensive of the war into the Gaza Strip on 28 October 2023, three weeks after the attacks, and since then he has repeated the themes many times.
"We will fight to defend our homeland. We will fight and not retreat. We will fight on land, at sea and in the air. We will destroy the enemy above ground and below ground. We will fight and we will win.
"This will be a victory of good over evil, of light over darkness, of life over death. In this war we will stand steadfast, more united than ever, certain in the justice of our cause."
His speech adopted the cadences of Winston Churchill's rallying call in June 1940 of "we shall fight on the beaches," after Britain's defeat by Germany in northern France and the evacuation of more than 338,000 allied soldiers from Dunkirk.
