Since the Hamas attack of October 7, Israel has been waging war on the terrorist group, initially via airstrikes and now via a ground invasion of Gaza. Critics of Israel have decried its response to the massacre and continue to call for a ceasefire, citing civilian Palestinian casualties. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined CNN's Dana Bash on "State of the Union" Sunday and addressed these criticisms head-on. 

BASH: "The Secretary of State, Tony Blinken, said that far too many Palestinian civilians have been killed. What is your response to that?"

NETANYAHU: "I think any civilian loss is a tragedy. And the blame should be placed squarely on Hamas." pic.twitter.com/MQ66sHmVQg

— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) November 12, 2023

A portion of their exchange can be viewed in the above video. Netanyahu explained what Israel's objectives are. Bash acknowledged the validity of the objectives, but then pressed Netanyahu regarding civilian casualties. 

NETANYAHU: The first goal is to destroy Hamas, and the second goal is to bring back our hostages — we're trying to do both. 

BASH: Yeah, so, those are completely understandable goals — goals that the United States very much supports, understanding that Hamas is a barbaric terrorist organization. But Israel is not Hamas, and the United States also makes very clear that democracies have to do better. The Secretary of State, Tony Blinken, said that far too many Palestinian civilians have been killed. What is your response to that? 

NETANYAHU: I think any civilian loss is a tragedy. And the blame should be placed squarely on Hamas because it prevents them from leaving the war zone, sometimes at gunpoint. It fired on the safe zone and the safe corridor that we enacted the other day, to prevent Palestinians from leaving harm's way. It puts rockets inside schools, hospitals. It has tunnels below children's beds. This is what we're dealing with. So obviously we can't give them —

Bash pressed further, questioning if Israel is doing everything in its power to minimize civilian casualties. 

BASH: Absolutely. But because Israel isn't Hamas, is Israel doing everything possible to take that into consideration and avoid civilian deaths? 

NETANYAHU: Yes, Dana, and more than that — and more than that. We're trying to minimize civilian casualties. As a result of our ground action, I think the number of civilian casualties is actually being reduced because people are heeding our calls to leave the area and defying Hamas's attempt to keep them there. And we'll do everything in our power to do that. 

But, you know, the one example I can give you is this: Look, these savages, they perpetrated the worst horrors on Jews since the Holocaust. The German Chancellor, Scholz, called them "the new Nazis." Well, look at the old Nazis. The Allies were attacked by Hitler, and so they invaded France and then Germany. And when they did that, they went into the cities. They had to fight the German Army that was often embedded in civilian — in the cities, in civilian neighborhoods. And many civilians were killed. So, who was the blame laid on? Did they say, "Well...the Allies are wrong? The Allies should stop fighting"? Or they said, "Look, use force as judiciously as you can, but don't give the Nazis any refuge — defeat the Nazis"? Which is what we're doing. We're using force in the most judicious way, but we have to defeat these new Nazis — and we will, for our sake. For your sake, too.

What Netanyahu illustrates perfectly here is how the lessons of history establish the framework: When the bad guys — the evildoers — hide among civilians, the good guys sometimes have to go through the civilians to get to the bad guys and root them out. The key is to do so as judiciously as possible, which is what Israel is trying to do and its leaders have reiterated repeatedly. 

Perhaps I've missed it, but where are the calls from the leaders of Hamas to minimize the casualties of innocent Israelis? Oh. Yeah.