Friday on CNN’s “The Lead,” anchor Jake Tapper asked Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan if his country could “hold all 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza responsible” for the Hamas terror attacks in Israel by bombing Gaza.
Erdan said, “Sadly, it’s very sad, because I really feel sorry for the suffering of the people of Gaza. But we should all remember, they elected Hamas 18 years ago. Hamas is the only one responsible for everything that is happening there. Hamas embedded its terrorist infrastructure within the civilian population under public facilities and there’s no other way to eradicate Hamas terrorist capabilities and ensure that these atrocities would not happen again without eliminating it and without temporarily evacuating the population.”
Tapper said, “So, you just said something about the people of Palestine or people of Gaza, rather, electing Hamas in 2007. And it is true. They elected Hamas in 2007, which is 18 years ago, and Hamas has not allowed an election since then. Hamas is a terrorist organization. They rule with guns. They rule with terror. President Herzog said this week it is, quote, An entire nation out there that’s responsible. It’s not true, this rhetoric about civilians not aware and not involved. It’s absolutely not true. They could have risen up, they could have fought against that evil regime which took over Gaza in a coup d’état murdering their family members who were in Fatah.’ You basically just insinuated something similar.”
He added, “I guess my question is, if Hamas is a terrorist group, which it is, but if it is, then how can you hold all 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza responsible for what Hamas did? Don’t you think that they rule by killing people who he oppose them? I mean, how seriously can you expect the Palestinian people – half whom are kids, by the way – how seriously can you expect them to rise up if they are brutal murderers, which they are?”
Erdan said, “We do not expect them to rebel. We cannot decide for them how to live their life, but we are fighting for our life. We just lost 1,300 Israelis who were slaughtered and butchered and massacred.”
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