Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasted critics Wednesday on Newsmax for condemning the Jewish state's pursuit of terrorist leaders abroad following the Iranian-backed Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, while ignoring the same U.S. strategy after 9/11.
Israel on Tuesday launched an airstrike in Doha that resulted in the deaths of five Hamas terrorists. It was the first known Israeli strike on Qatari territory. The attack drew widespread international condemnation.
"You had September 11th," Netanyahu told "The Record With Greta Van Susteren." "That was a pivotal moment for you. And after September 11th, America said this: We will hunt the terrorists wherever they are."
He noted the U.N. Security Council passed Resolution 1373 in 2001, demanding countries "deny safe haven to those who finance, plan, support, or commit terrorist acts." Yet, Netanyahu argued, that principle was abandoned when it comes to Israel.
"On October 7th, Hamas terrorists committed the most savage act of mass murder in the history of the Jewish people since the Holocaust," Netanyahu said. "And they did this based in Qatar."
Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, he said, lived comfortably in Doha while plotting violence. Haniyeh was assassinated in July 2024 in Tehran, where he had traveled from Qatar to attend the inauguration of newly elected Iranian President Masou Pezeshkian.
"They basically hosted the top leadership of Hamas where they hatched their murderous plans," Netanyahu said of Qatar. "When the United States went after [Osama] bin Laden in Pakistan, no one condemned America. But when Israel does exactly the same thing, it is being widely condemned."
The prime minister dismissed that criticism as hypocrisy.
"Israel did what it had to do," he said. "The best way to avoid having Israel operate in your territory is to not let terrorists operate from your territory."
For Netanyahu, the killing of Turning Point USA co-founder and CEO Charlie Kirk on Wednesday underscored the broader war of ideas.
"Charlie understood there's an attack on Western civilization, on our common Judeo-Christian heritage," he said. "We must confront it with the same clarity America showed after 9/11."
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