Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman warned the Hamas terrorist organization Monday that Israel would not tolerate any provocations from the Gaza Strip, which Hamas rules.
At a Knesset meeting on the future of the Gaza Strip, Liberman said that "We will respond to all provocations with full force. There will be no more firing into firing positions in the sand. We will respond strongly against quality objectives. There will be no compromise on this issue and there will be consequences [for any provocation by Hamas]."
"The ball is in Hamas' court," Liberman continued. "It must decide what it wants in the end...It must decide whether it wants its children to be martyrs and to spend their lives in tunnels, or if it wants them to be doctors and engineers and to be able to travel the world without fear."
The Defense Minister spoke about a conversation with former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon before the disengagement from Gaza. "He explained to me, 'I want to create an opportunity for the Palestinians to prove that they can establish a state,' and told me that in ten years' time, Gaza will be the Singapore of the Middle East," he said. "Right now it's more like Mosul or Raqqa. The Hamas leadership must decide what they want. At the moment, they are leading the strip toward the [bloody] direction of Mosul and Raqqa."
Liberman also addressed the decision to reduce electricity to the Gaza Strip. "It is inconceivable that Hamas collects taxes from Gaza residents and they go to tunnels and rockets and not to Gaza's development of the electricity and water sectors."
