Netanyahu: Israel Election Won’t Stop Gaza War

• Netanyahu: Israel Election Won’t Stop Gaza War
  by https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/
  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to strike the already-besieged Gaza Strip regardless of the country’s upcoming general election.
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  Speaking yesterday as he embarked on a two-day visit to Ukraine, Netanyahu said: “I heard comments that I am refraining from a large campaign [in Gaza] because of the elections. This is not correct. Everyone who knows me knows that my considerations are matter-of fact and real, that I act [in] full cooperation with the security forces, with assertiveness and responsibility.”
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  “If it is required, we will embark on a large campaign […] with elections or without elections,” Netanyahu stressed. This comes after Israel this weekend killed three Palestinians near the Gaza fence, firing at them with an Israeli army helicopter and tank. There were also reports of an Israeli attack on an observation post used by Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip.
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  Hamas spokesman Fazi Barhoum said on Saturday that “the Israeli strike is a message of escalation and aggression against the Gaza Strip”, claiming the strike is an attempt to divert attention from the occupied West Bank, where an Israeli settler was killed last week.  “Resistance forces in Gaza will not let the Strip become an Israeli target for settling accounts,” Barhoum added.
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  READ: Netanyahu seeks Trump go-ahead for Israel’s West Bank annexation to help win election
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  After Netanyahu failed to form a ruling coalition in the wake of April’s general election, he pushed for the Knesset to dissolve itself and call a do-over election for 17 September. However, in the face of poor polling figures and widespread Israeli apathy to the country’s second election in a year, Netanyahu has sought to cancel the fresh election.
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  When the Knesset legal adviser ruled that the election could only be cancelled in extreme circumstances such as war, commentators speculated that Netanyahu’s government could start a war in Gaza to avoid electoral defeat. Netanyahu’s comments yesterday will be seen as the latest evidence of this strategy.
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  Israeli opposition figures have also goaded Netanyahu to attack Gaza, with head of the Blue and White (Kahol Lavan) party this weekend labelling his policy on the Strip “weak”. “People who are weak in front of Hamas in Gaza might bring a wave of horror to the West Bank,” Gantz wrote on Twitter, referring to recent incidents in the occupied territory.
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