Read Admiral Daniel Hagari, the spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), told reporters Thursday that Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, had left Doha, Qatar, on a private jet to meet the leader of Iran in Tehran.
Hagari said (via IDF translation):
The IDF is fighting with full force against Hamas in the Gaza Strip but we must not be mistaken, if one wants to understand who is involved in this war, one must pay attention also to the visit of one of Hamas’ murderous leaders, Ismail Haniya, in Iran today. He is going to visit Iran on a private jet and there is significance to the reception that he will receive from the Iranian leader. Iran is pushing its proxies around us, the Huthis, Hezbollah and others, in order to distract us from focusing on Hamas and Gaza. We are focused on Hamas. We are focused on destroying Hamas and making every effort to bring all of our hostages home. This is our focus and we will not be distracted.
Regarding Haniya, while he is traveling on private jets, he will sacrifice Gaza just like [local Hamas leader] Yahya Sinwar. This is what they are about: sacrificing Gaza for their own personal gain.
It was not clear how the IDF knew of Haniyeh’s travel plans, nor was it clear whether the IDF intended to target the aircraft. The IDF implied that Haniyeh was to meet with Iran’s leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Earlier this week, Haniyeh called for the “blood of the women, children, and elderly” in Gaza to be spilled against Israel, to “awaken within us the revolutionary spirit.”
Hamas leaders have also recently traveled to Moscow to meet Russian officials.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
