Israel Threatens to Kill Hamas Leaders for Trying to Ruin US Embassy Move

Monday, May 14, 2018 |  Israel Today Staff

It was a day of celebration, a historic day when Israel's chief ally, America, finally cemented its support for the Jewish state's right to choose Jerusalem as its capital by moving the US Embassy to the disputed Holy City.

But Hamas and its Iranian backers were determined to spoil the festivities by creating a bloodbath at the Gaza border.

The inaugural ceremony of the new US Embassy, which will be housed in the large US Consulate facility that has existed in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Arnona for the past several years, featured strong, but largely predictable speeches by both Israeli and American officials.

The proceedings in Jerusalem were often overshadowed by the rising death toll in Gaza, which no doubt was precisely Hamas' intention.

Palestinian Arabs have been violently rioting at the Gaza security fence for weeks in a new uprising that Hamas openly admits is aimed ultimately at destroying Israel.

But Monday's ruckus was a major escalation, and that's certainly no coincidence.

The Gaza Health Ministry claimed that at least 50 local Palestinians had been killed by Israeli gunfire.

Israeli army officials confirmed that their forces had used live fire to thwart numerous attempts to breach the security fence protecting southern Israel. In at least one instance, an entire team of Hamas operatives was killed while trying to plant a bomb along the barrier.

The blatant attempt to ruin such a historic day, not to mention the disgusting exploitation of Gaza's civilian population, was the last straw for the Israeli leadership.

"If the protests continue, the assassinations will return," an Israeli defense official told Hadashot TV news, referring to a previous campaign of targeted killings against the leaders of Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups.

Meanwhile, the Trump White House fully and unabashedly backed Israel in defending its southern border.

"The responsibility for these tragic deaths rests squarely with Hamas," White House spokesman Raj Shah told reporters. "Hamas is intentionally and cynically provoking this response. Israel has the right to defend itself."