July 7, 2014 — New York, New York
AJC called on the international community to condemn the horrific Hamas onslaught against Israel, and to express solidarity with Israelis who now must be prepared to seek refuge in bomb shelters on only 15 seconds notice of incoming rockets and missiles from Gaza.
“Hamas has shown again with utmost clarity its true nature by launching hundreds of rockets and missiles, forcing Israeli citizens, Jews and Arabs, to seek shelter and the Israeli government to consider all options to defend the nation,” said AJC Executive Director David Harris. “Indeed, Hamas gleefully claims credit for the current wave of attacks, including more than 80 rockets today alone so far.”
The Hamas surge began shortly after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas refused to extend peace talks with Israel and, instead, formed a unity government on June 2 with the unrepentant terrorist group that controls Gaza. The frequency and reach of rockets fired into Israel increased after the bodies of three Israeli teens, abducted and murdered by Hamas, were found a week ago.
“Will the U.S. and European governments that welcomed the Palestinian unity government now reconsider their position?” said Harris. “Will the international community condemn without equivocation Hamas’s relentless attacks on Israel, and express full solidarity with Israelis – men, women and children – enduring the frequent assaults? What would other countries do in Israel’s place if attacked in this way?”
“Let’s remember that Israel completely pulled out from Gaza in 2005, transferring the entire territory to the Palestinian Authority, and Hamas violently seized it from the PA in 2007,” said Harris. “The recent unity agreement, marketed as a step forward for peace, was actually a green light for further Hamas violence and terror. Let’s remember that the Hamas Charter calls for the destruction of Israel and its replacement by a sharia-governed state.”
