National Defense Minister Helena Carreiras on Thursday defended that Israel’s fight against the Islamist movement Hamas and not against the Palestinian people, saying she hopes this is Tel Aviv’s view.
“The fight is against Hamas, against a terrorist movement and not against the Palestinian people. We hope this is also Israel’s understanding.”insisted Helena Carreiras, speaking to journalists after a meeting of defense ministers at the Atlantic Alliance headquarters in Brussels.
The minister defended that it is necessary to separate the waters between “what is an attack by terrorist Hamas” and “what is the Palestinian people, the Palestinian Authority itself and the need to prevent regional escalation.”
The Defense Minister confirmed news reported by several Israeli media outlets: Israel’s counterpart, Yoav Gallant, showed a compilation of uncensored videos about the Hamas attack last weekend.
Helena Carreiras revealed that she reacted “with great shock” to the images she saw together with the other defense ministers of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), including the Secretary General of the political-military alliance: “These are similar images to those we have seen on social media, but they are disturbing images.”
Asked about Jens Stoltenberg’s request on Wednesday for a proportionate response from Israel and the protection of Palestinian civilians, the Portuguese official said no such guarantees from Yoav Gallant existed during the meeting at NATO headquarters.
“That’s what everyone [os aliados] We ask ourselves here: this is what we hope will happen. There is a demand for this to happen and it is the times to come that will show what will happen. At that point, of course, we can all estimate what will happen,” he added.
Source: DN
