'Blind Support For Israel A Licence For Killing': Palestinian PM Refuses To Condemn Hamas Attack

PM Shtayyeh asserted that the Israeli people are seeking vengeance.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh on Saturday told CNN that he will not condemn the Hamas attack on 7 October, which killed over 1,000 people, since "blind support for Israel is a licence for killing." "I hope that the United States does not go into that direction," he was quoted by CNN in its report.

  

In a sit-down interview with CNN in Ramallah, West Bank, Shytayyeh explained why he was unable to denounce the attacks: "The Palestinian story does not start on October 7," he stated, adding that "the Palestinian catastrophe has been there for 75 years, and we have been crying loud, and we have been shouting loud and clear that we need a solution."

He further stated: "Condemnation should be for the killing of every civilian, every human being that does not deserve to die. We should condemn that."  

PM Shtayyeh asserted that the Israeli people are seeking vengeance.

"Israel is not under existential threat, and I think that the White House, President Joe Biden should call for the parties to sit down and work together for a peaceful solution," he said.

World leaders' travels to Tel Aviv in favour of Israel, including Biden's visit on Thursday and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visits in the previous week, have "given the greenest of green lights for Israel to continue its attack on Gaza," Shtayyeh added.

He believes that international support should be directed towards peace rather than aggression.

The prime minister appealed for an international effort to stop the war, led by the United Nations Security Council.

"What you need is a collective international effort on the side of the members of the Security Council to take the lead in ending the conflict and finding a solution," he said. 

Meanwhile, Jordan's King Abdullah II addressed European and Western leaders in English at the Cairo Summit for Peace, stating that "our region came with a message of peace."

He demanded an "immediate end to the war in Gaza," urgent humanitarian help, the rejection of Palestinian displacement, and a long-term solution "on the basis of the two-state solution."