Senior Likud official Dr. Yuval Shteinitz, a former chair of the Knesset Security & Foreign Affairs Committee, stated that “sooner or later, Israel must topple the Hamas regimes in Gaza” by launching a comprehensive military operation. Some believe his statements at this time, while Binyamin Netanyahu is building his coalition government, signals the planned policy of the incoming administration.

I don’t want to speak of timetables” stated Shteinitz, who is among the closest to the incoming prime minister. Shteinitz, who expects to be a senior minister in the incoming government, added that it is clear there is no other alternative to toppling the terrorist regime that is responsible for the ongoing attacks originating in Gaza.

“I am not speaking about another Operation Cast Lead but something much more serious, an Operation Defensive Shield 2,” referring to the major counter-terrorist offensive in Jenin that eradicated most of the terrorist infrastructure in that area.

Shteinitz explained that the goal of Cast Lead was to threaten Hamas, to exact a serious price for the terrorist regime’s actions, but it was stated at the onset the Israeli government did not plan to eradicate the leaders and topple the administration. He added that now we see that any attempt to educate Hamas is not going to succeed and the situation demands the Hamas government in Gaza must be brought down.

In a meeting on Sunday with visiting Canadian Foreign Minister Laurence Cannon, Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu explained the incoming administration is receiving a nation that is enduring great difficulties in a number of spheres, including defense, economy, and diplomatically.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)