From the Liveblog of
Saturday, July 19, 2014
Livni’s striking comments
Among the more striking comments we’ve heard in the past few hours were remarks from Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who told Channel 2 she did not rule out Israel bringing down Hamas if that was what it took to restore security and calm for the people of Israel.
Livni, the Hatnua party head who is the the most dovish member of Israel’s inner cabinet, was asked to confirm that the goal of Israel’s current ground offensive in Gaza is not to destroy Hamas. “I’m not taking anything off the table,” she replied. “I’m not going to tell them [Hamas] what the limits [of the operation] are. Among other things, it’s up to them.”
She said Hamas, in rejecting Egyptian ceasefire efforts, and attempting to murder Israeli civilians via ongoing rocket fire and a foiled under-border tunnel infiltration near a kibbutz on Thursday morning, had shown that it “lives in a completely different opera.”
The Islamist terror group appeared to think that it could come out of this conflict with political gains, she said. “I hope they understand today that’s not going to happen.” Israel, she stressed “has no quarrel with the people of Gaza. [But] there will be no political benefit for Hamas. It is a terror group that does not accept our existence.”
Earlier, IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz said the army was setting back the Hamas terror infrastructure by years.
“Hamas and the other terror groups in Gaza are taking heavy, continuing blows. Years they’ve spent building up their force — rockets, missiles, planning terror attacks, tunnels — all of this is being smashed by the capabilities of Israel, of the IDF,” said Gantz.
