Israel’s Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon warned Tuesday that Israel’s enemies are split along ideological lines, but united in their hatred of the Jewish State.
The defense minister noted there appear are several axes among those aligned against Israel: on one side are forces united with the Muslim Brotherhood, which include Turkey and Qatar. On another, there are those united with the Global Jihad movement, which include Salafi Islamists such as Al Qaeda-linked groups such as the Army of Islam, and Da’esh (ISIS).
Both are united in their hatred of Jews and Israel, and the “unwillingness… to recognize our right to exist as the nation state of the Jewish people,” Ya’alon said – as is the Palestinian Authority.
[PLO Chairman Yasser] “Arafat and [Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud] Abbas also did not want to end the conflict on the 1967 borders,” he said.
In remarks broadcast last week on official Palestinian Authority television, Abbas said in Arabic to the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva: “Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, haven’t you wondered: For how long will this protracted Israeli occupation of our land last? After 67 years (i.e., the re-creation of the State of Israel), how long? Do you think it can last, and that it benefits the Palestinian people?”
The remarks were translated and reported by the media watchdog organization Palestinian Media Watch (PMW). Www.palwatch.org
Israel has “zero tolerance” for arms sales to terrorists, the defense minister said in remarks following alleged Israeli air strikes against Hezbollah near the Syrian-Lebanese border.
Speaking at a Kibbutz Leadership conference in Judea-based Kibbutz Ma’ale Hamisha, near Jerusalem, Ya’alon warned in a cryptic remark, “Those who cross red lines will be hit.” It is believed that Ya’alon was referring not only to standard ordnance but also to the transfer of chemical weapons by Syria to the Hezbollah terrorists who have fought to defend President Bashar al-Asssad.
Ya’alon commented that the Hamas terror organization has only withheld hostilities out of dire necessity: “not because they have turned Zionist, but due to the price they paid [last year] in Operation Protective Edge.”