Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday pushed back against critics of Israel’s war on Hamas, telling the U.N. General Assembly that his country is merely acting in self-defense.
Netanyahu also praised President Obama for launching airstrikes on the Islamic State, adding that Israel’s war on Hamas is not unlike the United States’ on the terrorist cell that has taken hold of much of Iraq and Syria.
“Last week, many of the countries represented here, rightly applauded Obama for fighting [Islamic State of Iraq and Syria]. Yet weeks before, these very countries opposed Israel for confronting Hamas,” he said
“They evidently don’t understand that [Islamic State] and Hamas are branches of the same poisonous tree,” he added.
Netanyahu laid out the case for confronting militant Islamic groups, including not just Hamas and the Islamic State but also Boko Haram, al Qaeda and the Nusra Front.
“Militant Islam’s ambition to dominate the world seems mad. But so, too, did the global ambitions of another fanatic ideology that swept into power eight decades ago” he said. “The Nazis believed in a master race; the militant Islamists believe in a master faith.”
