Tipsheet

8 Years of Rockets

Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed Israel’s war against Hamas with conservative writers via conference call Monday.

“What is taking place in Israel is the result of years and rockets falling on innocent civilians,” the Likud party leader said.  He implied the media is complicit “in a campaign of lies” against Israel and insisted “the facts count, the sequence counts. Hamas took over Gaza after we vacated every square inch and we have to ask this question: ‘Why are they firing these rockets over eight years?'” He asked writers to imagine what reaction the United States would have to bombs been lobbed from Mexico into San Diego. “You think they’d wait eight years, eight months?” to react he inquired. “I don’t think they’d wait eight minutes.”

Netanyahu said Israel’s most immediate goal should be “stopping the firing and preventing the resupply of additional rockets and weaponry between Egypt and Gaza.” The "larger problem" that everyone, including President-elect Barack Obama should be worried about, according to Netanyahu, is preventing "militant Islam and Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons."

The call was organized by Allen Roth and David Groder of onejerusalem.com