TEL AVIV – A pro-Hamas journalist has launched a highly unusual attack on the “boastful” statements made by some of the Islamist movement’s leaders regarding the network of terror tunnels along the border with Israel.
“The public statements of our leaders are detrimental to the Palestinian cause,” Saleh Elnueimi, a well-known Palestinian reporter and expert on Israel wrote, referring specifically to remarks by Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh and Mahmoud al Zahar saying that the tunnels extend into Israeli territory.
“I cannot fathom why Hamas officials are happy to volunteer operational information to the enemy,” he wrote on his Facebook page.
“While the Israeli Minister of War Ya’alon denies that the tunnels reach settlements near the border fence, our leaders jump and say that they do,” he continued. “Don’t they understand that they invite public pressure on the Israeli government to launch a preemptive strike, which would likely lead to another war?”
“They legitimize an Israeli operation and provide ammunition to those in Israel who promote aggression, while it is estimated that the Israeli leadership is not interested in escalation at present,” Elnueimi wrote. “More statements of this kind would provide ammunition to belligerent elements in Tel Aviv.”
Seven Hamas militants were killed last week, and another two on Tuesday, while working to restore tunnels slated to serve as launching pads for attacks on Israel.
At a funeral for the seven militants last Friday, Haniyeh, the movement’s former prime minister, vowed to continue building tunnels to attack the Jewish state.
“The Hamas military wing will continue with its preparations both underground and above ground,” Haniyeh declared. “On land and at sea, we will not stop until the liberation of the holy places [in Jerusalem].”
On Wednesday, Gaza-based Hamas leader Zahar boasted that Hamas tunnels “reach deep into the territory occupied in 1948. … The [tunnels] reach [further] than Gaza.”
Asked later about his remarks, Zahar toned down the rhetoric, stating, “The resistance tunnels are defensive tunnels for the protection of our people in the face of any Israeli aggression.”
Aaron Klein is Breitbart’s Jerusalem bureau chief and senior investigative reporter. He is a New York Times bestselling author and hosts the popular weekend talk radio program, “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio.” Follow him on Twitter @AaronKleinShow. Follow him on Facebook.
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