IDF spokesman to French MPs: 'Your money funds Hamas'
Hamas is 'the long arm of the terror organization in Tehran,' IDF Spokesperson Ronen Manelis tells French parliamentarians, adding, 'Everywhere Iran and Qasem Soleimani touch, there is death and destruction.'
IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Ronen Manelis warned French parliamentarians on Tuesday that their aid money to the Gaza Strip funds the Hamas terror organization.
“The conflict in the Middle East is not a conflict between neighbors," stressed Manelis at the Foreign Affairs Committee in Paris.
"Israel is fighting and dealing with the murderous terrorist organization Hamas, which harms women and children, and innocent civilians, including civilians living under its rule. I know that you could not stand Hamas’s unfathomable cruelty for even one day," he asserted.
The IDF spokesman received support from French government officials. He then mentioned that the EU had already recognized Hamas as a dangerous and radical Islamist terrorist organization.
"According to Hamas's declared motto, 'Peace initiatives are contrary to the movement's worldview.' My people, those who speak my language, and my country, have no right to exist in Hamas' view," proclaimed the spokesperson.
"Imagine waking up tomorrow to the realization that a terrorist group claims ownership to all that is yours, regards France as their own, and causes more and more bloodshed, until they get what they want—which is your destruction," Manelis said.
The spokesperson later added that Hamas leaders were also in Europe, including Zaher Birawi and Muhammad Sawalha, whose hands are "stained with civilian blood."
According to Manelis, Iran funds Gaza's terrorist groups: "The leaders of Hamas serve as the long arm of the terror organization in Tehran. The commander of the Iranian Qods Force, the arch-terrorist Qasem Soleimani, a mass murderer responsible for thousands of deaths worldwide, transfers $100 million annually to terrorist groups in Gaza—money intended for the sole purpose of developing military capabilities to carry out terror attacks."
"Everywhere Iran and Soleimani touch, there is death and destruction. As in Yemen, Iraq, Syria, and Gaza,” concluded Manelis.
