Netanyahu: Hamas are Iran's proxies

Likud leader warns of global terrorism and differences in fighting strategies.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
netanyahu 298 88 aj (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
netanyahu 298 88 aj
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
Likud Chairman Binyamin Netanyahu expressed support on Saturday for the aerial strike on a Popular Resistance Committees training camp in Gaza that killed five Palestinians. However, it appeared that that was where his concurrence with the current government ended. In a Fox Network interview, he noted that Hamas were among Iran's most staunch supporters, acting effectively as proxies of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whom Netanyahu called a modern day Hitler. Netanyahu thus concluded that giving away territory to Hamas was not the right way to fight terror. In order to progress the talks with the Palestinians, Netanyahu said, the terrorists must first dismantle their "suicide kindergarten camps," change their school curricula and incessant mosque sermons that call for Israel's destruction, and stop terror. "Even the words are important," he said, "but we don't even hear the words. Asked to comment on global terror, the Knesset opposition leader remarked that in spite of the technological gap between the West and terrorist organizations, the latter enjoy the benefit of easy production and distribution of their weapons. He said that the Western military technology has become more and more sophisticated and expensive, while terrorist organizations execute deadly attacks against civilians using only the most rudimentary of weapons. He noted that all that would be required to bring down a civilian airplane is a simple anti-aircraft missile that would cause the loss of a full year's GDP. "The weapons are getting so sophisticated and the terrorists don't require a lot," he asserted. Netanyahu said that he most feared that a terrorist state would attain weapons of mass destruction. Today, he noted, American and other powers deter them. However, if they were to develop atomic weapons, then they would deter the rest of the world.