Netanyahu to UN chief: Hamas is Islamic State, Islamic State is Hamas

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon about the ongoing operation in Gaza, telling him that Hamas is committing war crimes and using civilians as human shields.

“The world saw yesterday [when Hamas killed 18 suspected “collaborators” with Israel] that Hamas, like the Islamic State, carries out mass public executions. In addition, Hamas, like the Islamic State, it persecutes and oppresses minorities.”

“The ideology of these two groups calls for Islamic caliphates and both use the same murderous methods — Hamas is the Islamic State, the Islamic State is Hamas,” he says.

Netanyahu came under fire earlier this week when his office posted a controversial tweet that used an image from the graphic beheading video of US journalist James Foley released by the Islamic State terrorist group.

The deleted Israeli tweet, which has been posted on BuzzFeed, juxtaposed an image, labeled “ISIS,” of Foley with his black-clad executioner with blade in hand alongside a picture, labeled “Hamas,” of a body being dragged through a street behind a motorcycle. The tweet was labeled “Hamas is ISIS. ISIS is Hamas,” repeating a statement made on Wednesday by Netanyahu.

A few hours later, the tweet was deleted after the Prime Minister’s office received criticism for using the image.

Last night, the office released a similar tweet, this time juxtaposing images of ISIS and Hamas performing public executions.

The simple truth: #Hamas is #ISIS. ISIS is Hamas.
Performing public mass-executions in cold-blood. pic.twitter.com/q7hpTmDq7R

— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) August 22, 2014