Israel Condemns U.S. Decision To Back The New Palestinian Government That Includes Hamas

Israel Condemns Plan in Washington to Work With New Palestinian Alliance -- New York Times

JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that he was “deeply troubled” by the Obama administration’s decision to work with the new Palestinian government, signaling new strains in the often rocky relationship between Israel and the United States, two close and critical allies.

Because the new government grew out of an agreement with Hamas, an Islamist movement that the West considers a terrorist group, Mr. Netanyahu has exhorted the world to reject it. He told The Associated Press on Tuesday that “the United States must make it absolutely clear” to President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority that the pact with Hamas “is simply unacceptable.”

Other Israeli leaders also used unusually harsh language to condemn Washington’s willingness to work with the government Mr. Abbas swore in on Monday. “American naïveté has broken all records,” said Gilad Erdan, a minister from Mr. Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud Party. The leader of the nationalist Jewish Home faction, Naftali Bennett, said the American decision “sends a message that terrorism pays.” Even Nachman Shai, a lawmaker with the left-leaning Labor Party, called the step “a slap in the face from the Americans.”

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More News On Israel Condemning The U.S. Decision To Back The New Palestinian Government That Includes Hamas

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