As public opinion turns against Israel in its war against Hamas, Yechiel Leiter, the Israeli Ambassador to U.S., told Newsmax Tuesday he wants people to remember the atrocities committed two years ago on Oct. 7.

Appearing on "Rob Schmitt Tonight," Leiter rejected claims that Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza.

"Israel is not committing genocide," Leiter said. "Israel never has committed genocide.

"Israel is not starving any population. This is all one big lie, this is nonsense.

"Where are the bodies, where are the people, where's the genocide?"

"Why is it that Hamas isn't hurrying into a ceasefire if there was a genocide?

"It’s a sham, it's a calumny.

"And I think everybody ought to stop and think for a moment what happened on October 7."

Leiter said Israel must deal with a terrorist army of 40,000 people with 450 miles of terror tunnels dug underground in the middle of population centers.

"Nobody has ever had to deal with this kind of situation," Leiter said.

"We wish the war to be over, but the war has to be over in such a way where all our hostages are released, and we never go into a situation again where we have the jihadi army on our border."

With President Donald Trump leading peace efforts, Leiter said he is optimistic a peace deal can be reached with Hamas.

"We've been waiting for this moment for a long time," Leiter said.

"The president has….pressured Hamas into coming to the table.

We hope that they actually live up to the statement, or at least part of the statement that they made, that they're willing to move forward on this plan."

Leiter said a peace deal will mean the people of Gaza are free and the people of Israel are free from those who want to destroy them.

Leiter also pushed back on an Axios story that said Trump was frustrated with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"The Axios story is nonsense, as so many of those stories have been during the course of the past year," Leiter said.

"I've been witness to the relationship between Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Trump. It is a warm, close relationship.

I just sat next to the prime minister at a lunch with the president, the vice president and secretary of state. There was no negativity there."

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