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INTERVIEW

‘We Will Act Again’

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni says Israel is intent on teaching the Islamists of Hamas a lesson in Gaza.

Tara Todras-Whitehill / AP
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni (center) at a rocket-bombed school in southern Israel
 

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In spite of a U.N. ceasefire resolution passed late last week, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was talking tough in an interview with NEWSWEEK's Lally Weymouth. She appeared confident that Israel had dealt a setback to Hamas, the Islamist group that governs the Gaza Strip and has been firing rockets into Israel. She warned that further provocations would be met with force. Excerpts:

WEYMOUTH: How does Israel respond to the pressure for a ceasefire from the global community?
LIVNI: I don't like the term "ceasefire," since it looks like an agreement between two legitimate sides. At the end of the day, this is not a conflict between two states but a fight against terror. We will continue to fight terrorism. We need to fight in Gaza because [Hamas] has targeted Israel for eight years.

Your aim is to weaken Hamas?
To weaken them and to affect their motivation. [Also,] we need to stop the smuggling of weapons [into Gaza].

Is the idea that Egypt will now take a more active role in stopping the smuggling?
This must be stopped by Israel or someone else. In six months Hamas has changed the range of its missiles from 20 kilometers to 50 kilometers. This now threatens 1 million Israelis.

We need to know that at the end of this military operation, we will not face the rearmament of Hamas.

Do you see the hand of Iran behind it all?
Oh, yes, clearly. When Hamas started, the missiles were made in the Gaza Strip. Now they are professional, coming from Iran.

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Member Comments

  • Posted By: Qidisrupt @ 01/30/2009 11:12:12 PM

    According to the book of Joshua, Gaza belongs to Israel. Maybe it is time for Israel to take back what is rightfully theirs. May the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Samson, David and many others give sound and convincing victory and favor in all they do...the only one and true living God...Jehovah...aka Jesus.

  • Posted By: ClearThinking @ 01/17/2009 11:41:42 AM

    Regarding: "Posted By: mujnoon01 @ 01/17/2009 4:50:05 AM

    why we support hand full jews against over q billion muslims ??/ just one country Israel very tiny and 60 muslim country why ?? make the 60 muslims country happy let the jews go seperate ways !!!!! good foriiegn policy should be to make muslims happy becasue they are more muslims then jews !!! right ??"


    Because we don't want to be forced to choose between Islam and extermination. The real goal of radical Islamic fundamentalism, like the basic ideology of the government of Iran, is to convert or exterminate non-Muslims and bring and end to what they consider the evil western way of life and our beliefs in freedom and equality for men and women. It is therefore in our best interests to support the resistance of these tendrils of hate and intolerance as they spread out to infect the world.

  • Posted By: mujnoon01 @ 01/17/2009 4:50:05 AM

    why we support hand full jews against over q billion muslims ??/ just one country Israel very tiny and 60 muslim country why ?? make the 60 muslims country happy let the jews go seperate ways !!!!! good foriiegn policy should be to make muslims happy becasue they are more muslims then jews !!! right ??

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