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Hamas: Gantz's threats effort to win Israel extremists’ votes 

August 16, 2019 at 3:50 pm

Benny Gantz, leader of Israel’s largest opposition party Blue and White (Kahol Lavan) in Tel Aviv on 19 February 2019 [JACK GUEZ/AFP/Getty Images]

Hamas said threats made against its leadership by the head of Israel’s Blue and White (Kahol Lavan) Party, Benny Gantz, are an attempt to win the votes of extremists within Israeli society.

“Gantz must remember how the Palestinian resistance reacted to [Israeli] aggression on the Gaza Strip when he was Israel’s chief of staff,” Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassim said, in a reference to the 2014 war on Gaza.

Israel “paid the price of crimes” it committed under Gantz, Qassim said in a statement on Facebook, adding that in that period, the “Palestinian resistance launched hundreds of rockets, which hit Tel Aviv, occupied Jerusalem, and the city of Haifa, and disrupted work in vital facilities in Israel” and forced Israelis into shelters.

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Moreover, Qassim added, the Qassam Brigades “were able to capture soldiers from the Israeli occupation army” when Gantz was Israel’s chief of staff.

He added that the resistance has developed its capabilities and accumulated strength so that it can defend its people in the face of any future Israeli aggression.

“The calm that Gantz is looking for will not be realised as long as Israel is occupying the land, violating the sanctities and besieging the Gaza Strip,” Qassim said.

During his election campaign, Gantz vowed to “pound Gaza” if he became prime minister. 

“If another conflict erupts while he is prime minister, the military would move to kill all of Hamas’ leadership,” the head of the Blue and White Party said.