Liberman: Confrontations just make Hamas stronger

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman said on Tuesday that the repeated bouts of fighting with Hamas only serve to make the organization stronger and that it now enjoys majority support among the Palestinian public.

“Every confrontation strengthens Hamas politically,” Liberman said at a conference by the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism at the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center. “In recent polls Hamas has become the dominant factor.”

The minister noted that the recent Operation Protective Edge was the third conflict Israel has fought with Hamas in six years and the Gaza-based group has survived each time.

Liberman pointed out that with each of the campaigns, Cast Lead in 2008-2009, Pillar of Defense in 2012, and the conflict in July and August this year, Hamas has increased its rocket range. Whereas six years ago, it was Sderot and the communities near the coastal enclave that were targeted, in 2012, rockets reached Tel Aviv and then this year Hadera, he said.

Liberman asserted that Hamas has seen a surge of popularity in the wake of the conflict that began on July 8 and continued for seven weeks until a month-long ceasefire was agreed on two weeks ago.

“If there were elections today [Hamas’s former Gaza prime minister] Ismail Haniyeh would win 66 percent of the support,” he predicted.

At the time of the ceasefire, Liberman sharply criticized the deal, arguing that Israel should have rooted out the Gaza-based terror organization rather than sign an agreement with “contemptible murderers.”

In a statement posted to his Facebook page at the time, Liberman urged the Israeli government to “free the Middle East and the Palestinians from the threat of Hamas,” emphasizing that Israel must fight the terror organization “without compromises.”