This makes me sick. Why are we feeding murderous islamic terrorists?
Peres Warns World Against "Understanding" Hamas
by Hillel Fendel
Just days after three U.S. Congressmen visited Hamas-controlled Gaza, and a day after the U.S. pledged a “substantial” sum of money in assistance to Gaza, President Shimon Peres warns the European Union against showing “understanding” for Hamas.
Peres met on Tuesday morning with the President of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pöttering and had some harsh words to say about Hamas – and about those who deal with Hamas. Pöttering, leading a delegation of European parliamentarians, had earlier visited both Hamas-ruled Gaza and Sderot, but concentrated on his visit to the former.
“Europe is interested in helping the Palestinian population,” Pöttering said. “Europe wants to see practical steps in the field, confidence building gestures, and we turn to you as a man of peace to advance this process.”
Peres: Hamas is a Terror Organization
Peres responded clearly: “Hamas is a murderous terrorist organization that takes advantage of its poor countrymen as human shields for its own advancement… Unfortunately, the world, led by Europe, does not recognize and are not exposed to the true situation – namely, that Hamas is a terrorist organization that works with violence, with no logic and no compassion towards its own people, and [all] in the service of Iran.”
Understanding Hamas Doesn't Help
“Europe and the international community, by expressing understanding for the situation in Gaza and for the terrorist acts of Hamas, are not helping improve the situation,” President Peres said. “They are rather misleading the Palestinians, thus gravely harming the chances for peace and strengthening the moderates.”
“Israel is fighting and will fight a no-holds-barred against terrorism,” Peres said, “though at the same time it does not prevent and will not prevent the flow of food and medicine into the Gaza Strip.”
Peres said that the delivery of food and medicines into Gaza is proceeding uninterruptedly, “the only problem being the wild and hostile takeover by Hamas of some of the deliveries for its own personal benefit.”
President Peres reminded his guest that in the past, Europe helped to rein in Palestinian terrorism when its leaders expressed public criticism of Yasser Arafat. “Today as well,” Peres said, “European intervention of this nature is necessary for those who truly want to bring peace.”
The U.S., Too?
Peres did not mention the United States by name, but it is likely that he had in mind recent Congressional visits to Gaza by two U.S. Representatives and Senator John Kerry, the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The two Representatives took an overtly anti-Israel tone, with one of them saying that Israel had “apparently willfully destroyed any capacity of the Palestinians to rebuild their own infrastructure.”
Sen. Kerry, for his part, was handed a letter for U.S. President Obama, and delivered it to the Jerusalem Consulate. He was apparently not aware that it was from a top Hamas official. A State Department spokesman said he did not know if Obama would read it or not. The U.S. does not have diplomatic ties with Hamas, which it defines as a terrorist organization.
In other U.S.-Hamas news, it was announced on Monday that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would pledge a “substantial” amount of aid for Gaza and the Palestinian Authority at a donors’ meeting in Egypt next week. The conference is to take place in Sharm el-Sheikh, in the Sinai, on March 2. “The United States will announce a substantial pledge of humanitarian assistance and support for the Palestinian Authority,” an official said, noting that it will amount to hundreds of millions of dollars.