From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
‘IDF wouldn’t have targeted Deif home without intelligence he was there’
Israel would not have targeted the home of Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades commander Muhammad Deif had it not received intelligence that he was in the building, Science and Technology Minister Yaakov Perry says.
Perry, a former Shin Bet head who sits in security cabinet meetings but doesn’t have a vote, tells Army Radio that says he has no knowledge about whether the elusive Deif was killed overnight, and that Deif “is a target and is not immune.”
But he remarks that “if there had been intelligence that Muhammad Deif was not in that house, we would not have blown it up.”
Perry adds that talks to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas kept failing in Cairo mainly because political chief Khaled Mashaal keeps asking for “more than we’re prepared to give.” Perry says Israel is not prepared to discuss opening a seaport at this stage, because there’s no mechanism for international supervision.
Asked about the international response to more civilian deaths in Gaza, including members of Deif’s family, Perry says “we never get compliments … we have to do what we have to do, it is justified.”
He says this round of violence “could take a great deal longer” and “requires a lot of patience … it’s a very difficult period, especially for residents of the south and all the residents of Israel.”
Perry says he disagrees with cabinet colleague Tzipi Livni, who argues that Israel should not be directly negotiating with Hamas and should only be talking with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, because “Abbas cannot determine what will happen in Gaza in the coming days, months and years.”
He stresses that he supports Abbas’s return to Gaza but that the only way to resolve this conflict is through the indirect talks in Cairo.
Finally, he says Jewish Home party leader Naftali Bennett’s demand for a massive ground offensive to smash Hamas in Gaza at this stage “is not acceptable to me… We may be dragged into a major ground offensive,” he says, “but that’s not my preferred option. I’m not saying it won’t be necessary.”
