Netanyahu ‘Deeply Troubled’ by Acceptance of PA Leaders
(Times of Israel / Worthy News)– Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday he is “deeply troubled” by the US decision to maintain relations with the new Palestinian unity government, urging Washington to tell the Palestinian president that his alliance with the Hamas militant group is unacceptable.
The blunt language used by Netanyahu reflected the Israeli government’s disappointment and frustration over the international community’s embrace of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s new unity government.
Netanyahu has urged the world to shun the government because it is backed by Hamas, an Islamic group that has killed hundreds of Israelis in attacks over the past two decades. But late Tuesday, both the US and European Union said they would give Abbas a chance.
“I’m deeply troubled by the announcement that the United States will work with the Palestinian government backed by Hamas,” Netanyahu told The Associated Press, saying the group has murdered “countless innocent civilians.”
“All those who genuinely seek peace must reject President Abbas’s embrace of Hamas, and most especially, I think the United States must make it absolutely clear to the Palestinian president that his pact with Hamas, a terrorist organization that seeks Israel’s liquidation, is simply unacceptable,” he said.