Netanyahu: Destroy Hamas, Stop Nuclear Iran

JERUSALEM -- Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israel must remove Gaza's Hamas rulers from power to ensure victory over "terror."

He expressed full support for his country's punishing, 18-day offensive against the militants — even though it is being conducted by politicians who are running against him in Feb. 10 elections.

"At the end of the day there will be no alternative but to bring down the regime of Hamas, a terrorist organization pledged to our destruction," Netanyahu told foreign reporters in Jerusalem.

Netanyahu, a top contender to become prime minister in next month's vote, said toppling Hamas would not necessarily have to be part of the current offensive, but would eventually have to happen.

He said Hamas, along with the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah, are Iranian proxies located on Israel's southern and northern flanks.

"Ultimately Israel cannot tolerate an Iranian base right next to its cities," Netanyahu said.

Israel sees Iran as its top threat, and believes the country is working to develop a nuclear bomb — something Tehran denies.

"If the proxies of Iran enjoy a nuclear umbrella, we have crossed into another realm," said Netanyahu, who leads the right-of-center Likud Party. "That is something we really don't want to contemplate."

Netanyahu enjoyed a wide lead in the polls before Israel began its Gaza offensive on Dec. 27. However, since the war began he's been losing ground to Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni of the centrist Kadima Party and Defense Minister Ehud Barak of the left-leaning Labor Party.

The war is enormously popular among Israelis, who see it as a way of stopping Hamas rocket attacks on southern Israel. The offensive has killed some 900 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.

Netanyahu rejected calls to delay the elections because of the Gaza fighting.

"I think if we do not hold it on time, it will give the terrorists an enormous victory. It means that they hold Israeli democracy hostage," he said.

Even though Israel would not necessarily have to drive Hamas from power now, he said the Jewish state should not pull out of Gaza unless it receives assurances the militants will not rearm through smuggling at the Gaza-Egypt border.

Hamas wrested control of Gaza in June 2007 from the moderate forces of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The Islamic militants now rule the territory while Abbas' Fatah movement is in charge of the West Bank. The two territories are located on opposite sides of Israel and are together supposed to make up a future Palestinian state.

Netanyahu said conditions are not ripe for serious negotiations on a final peace deal with Abbas — a position that could put him at odds with the incoming Obama administration in the United States.

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