More Quotes
“The UN Human Rights Council gives legitimacy to murderous terrorist organizations such as Hamas and ISIS. Instead of inquiring into Hamas’s attacks on Israeli civilians and its use of the residents of Gaza as human shields and instead of inquiring into the massacres that Assad is perpetrating against the Syrian people or that ISIS is perpetrating against the Kurds, the UN has decided to come and check Israel – the only democracy in the Middle East, a democracy which is acting legitimately to defend its citizens against murderous terrorism.
The report of this committee has already been written. The committee chairman has already decided that Hamas is not a terrorist organization; therefore, they have nothing to look for here. They should visit Damascus, Baghdad and Tripoli; they should go see ISIS, the Syrian army and Hamas – there they will find war crimes, not here.” (Benjamin Netanyahu following a meeting with New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, 14/08/2014)
“We cannot operate only through force … We need to start a political process immediately with the aim of raising a Palestinian state. Israel must submit a far-reaching plan under which a state will be created which would maintain our security interests. It forces the administration to make a bold move.” (Opposition and Labour Party leader Isaac Herzog speaking to Ynet, 12/08/2014)
“The FPA protests in the strongest terms the blatant, incessant, forceful and unorthodox methods employed by the Hamas authorities and their representatives against visiting international journalists in Gaza over the past month.
The international media are not advocacy organisations and cannot be prevented from reporting by means of threats or pressure, thereby denying their readers and viewers an objective picture from the ground.
In several cases, foreign reporters working in Gaza have been harassed, threatened or questioned over stories or information they have reported through their news media or by means of social media.
We are also aware that Hamas is trying to put in place a “vetting” procedure that would, in effect, allow for the blacklisting of specific journalists. Such a procedure is vehemently opposed by the FPA.” (A statement by the Foreign Press Association, 11/08/2014)
“Let’s take the Saudi initiative, and we will try to negotiate a plan to bring an end to the Israeli-Arab dispute … Inside this framework, it will be easier to deal with [the] Palestinians on bilateral negotiations, which have failed.”
“Israel does not need to accept the contents of the initiative in its entirety, and there are major issues which should be discussed in depth … However, the time has come for Israel to recognize the importance of this step, declare its readiness to begin a discussion on the initiative and take steps to leverage it for local and regional strategic advantages.” (Israeli Science and Technology Minister and Yesh Atid MK Yaakov Peri in an interview with the Washington Post, 10/08/2014)
“Israel deeply regrets every civilian casualty, every single one. We do not target them; we do not seek them. The people of Gaza are not our enemy. Our enemy is Hamas; our enemy are the other terrorist organizations trying to kill our people. And we’ve taken extraordinary circumstances and measures to avoid civilian casualties.” (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a press conference, 06/08/2014)