Hamas has fired thousands of rockets at Israel over the years, among other acts of terror. Illustrative photo of spent Rockets fired from Gaza. By Joshua Spurlock.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, a visit inside a terror tunnel built by Hamas is worth thousands more—and United States Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt certainly didn’t soften his words after his own tunnel visit. “I am deeply angered by Hamas’ continued terror activity, including the digging of tunnels that facilitate terrorist activities,” said Greenblatt in an official statement on Sunday. “Such activities show Hamas’ continued exploitation of the people of Gaza and Hamas’ threats to stability and security in the region.”
On Twitter, Greenblatt was equally forceful, condemning the terrorist actions of Hamas and their impact not only on Israel, but Gazans as well. Tweeted Greenblatt, “Hamas wastes resources on tunnels & rockets to attack Israel, instead of helping the people of Gaza by getting the lights on, the water flowing & the economy growing. Hamas spews hateful rhetoric & foments a vicious cycle of violence. Gaza deserves better!”
In the official statement, which was posted to the website of the US Consulate General in Jerusalem, Greenblatt said he took a tour of the area surrounding Gaza and received a security briefing. Afterwards, he encouraged every nation and international clonazepam generic ingredients donors who want to help Gazans to take the tour as well to “understand this difficult, tragic and complex situation.”
Said Greenblatt, “We must all work together to help the people of Gaza, ensure Israel’s and Egypt’s security, and improve lives. Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other extremists continue to build up their military strength at the expense of the civilian population, causing danger to the people of Gaza, Israel, and Egypt.”
Greenblatt called upon Hamas to release the bodies of two IDF soldiers they are holding— Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul—as well as three Israeli civilians.
In addition to his Gaza tour, Greenblatt also met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and tweeted that it was a “very productive meeting” to “discuss peace efforts.”
And peace with the Palestinians isn’t all they’ve been discussing—the US and Israel also have a plan to help Gazans, and Greenblatt hopes other nations will join them.
Speaking about an upcoming international Palestinian aid meeting, the envoy said he looks forward to Israel “presenting various upcoming projects and policy measures that we have been discussing which will improve the reality in the Gaza Strip. I sincerely hope that the international community will commit to funding these measures according to development priorities and providing the necessary resources to bring them to fruition.”
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, January 28, 2018)