'They're Barbaric Terrorists': Indian American Congressman Calls To 'Eliminate' Hamas Once And For All

Indian American Congressman Shri Thanedar has called the Hamas militants "barbaric terrorists" and said there's a need to "eliminate" them once and for all.

Indian American Congressman Shri Thanedar has called for the elimination of Palestinian militant group Hamas "from the face of the earth", saying that they are just "barbaric terrorists". Calling for the group's destruction forever, Thanedar said that the world needs to free Palestinian people amid the continuing war between Israeli forces and Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip. Two weeks have passed since the onset of the war on October 7 which has resulted in the causality of over 4,000 people from both sides.

"Hamas is not a militant organisation. Hamas is not a resistance movement. They are just barbaric terrorists. There's no other way to describe it," Shri Thanedar said at an event organised by HinduACTion in Washington in support of Israel.

"This is a time where we just can't just push them. Because they will regroup and come back and do these atrocities once again. That's what they will do. So, we need at this stage to eliminate them; eliminate them from the face of this earth," Thanedar further said. 

He added, "We need to dismantle their military operations. We need to free the Palestinian people, the two million Palestinian people who live in Gaza. They need to be freed from these terrorist control of Gaza."

On the other hand, Nissim B Reuben, the Program Director of Indian-Jewish Relations at the American Jewish Committee (AJC) said that India is the only country in the world with no history of antisemitism. He said Jews were never persecuted in India until the Mumbai attacks of 2008, which were perpetrated by terrorists that came from across the border.

"...We are very grateful that the Indian American diaspora, the global Indian diaspora the people of India, and of course, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the government of India have solidly supported Israel in its fight against Hamas. It was a brutal terror attack... Israel has gone through a tremendous tragedy, but it will overcome and rebound," Reuben told news agency ANI.

He further added that Indian Americans and Indians will never forget that Israel came to India's help, assistance with defence, much-needed "defence equipment in the wars of 1965 and 1971 and of course, Kargil 1999 when Israel rushed much-needed defence supplies...".

Meanwhile, Hamas has released two more women hostages amid the ongoing clashes as fear of a ground offensive by Israel in the Gaza Strip persists.