A senior member of Hamas’s political bureau has attacked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to the US Congress earlier this week, in a column published by Al Jazeera.
Referring to US congress members who gave several standing ovations to Netanyahu, Izzat al-Risheq condemned “the clowns who claimed to be leaders of the ‘free world’” for praising the Israeli premier.
Risheq accused Netanyahu of spreading accounts of Hamas’ attack on Israel on 7 October which he said were debunked by Palestinian, American and international media outlets.
“With the extent of his lies, he received applause from false witnesses from members of Congress who chose to be sitting in the wrong place at a historical moment that would haunt them and record them as accomplices in that genocide,” he said.
Netanyahu’s claim that Israel represents “civilisation and democracy” shocked al-Risheq, who pointed out that Israeli warplanes were “destroying the tents of defenceless refugees, burning children, women, and the elderly”.
“He sought to portray his criminal aggression as a battle between good and evil, civilisation and barbarism; he was saying this while registering himself in human history as the leader of one of the most barbaric and brutal wars in human history.”
During his speech, Netanyahu described Jerusalem as the unified capital of Israel, which was seen by many as a provocation on the vision for a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
It came days after Israel’s parliament passed a bill that rejected the creation of a Palestinian state, a goal US officials have repeatedly stated they support.
Risheq said that “Jerusalem was, is, and will remain one, united, Arab and Islamic, the address of our cause, a destination for the free people of the world, a compass for our struggle, and the eternal capital of Palestine”.
The Hamas official expressed strong disapproval of Netanyahu’s plans for Gaza, including plans for the creation of a new school system in the enclave and for its full disarmament.
“The speech was a ‘declaration of war’ par excellence, and he and his entity will bear the consequences,” Risheq added.
He called Netanyahu’s search for a victory in Gaza “a search for a mirage”.
“The Al-Qassam Brigades, the Al-Quds Brigades, and all the resistance forces surprised the world with their capabilities, their increasingly fierce fighting, and what is [yet to be revealed] is even greater.”
More than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since 7 October, according to Gaza’s health ministry. Hamas’s attack on southern Israel on 7 October killed around 1,200 Israelis.