BIBI ON HAMAS

From a FOXNEWS interview he did with Cavuto (it's an excellent and long interview - RTWT!):

CAVUTO: Still, Mahmoud Zahar, a top Hamas official, was quoted today, sir, as saying that the group would extend its year-old truce if Israel reciprocates. What do you think?

NETANYAHU: Well, look, I think that Hamas will put on a lot of makeup now.

They're quite conscious of the fact that they're in the limelight, and they might get a lot of funding cut and other things that they don't want to -- to get, international pressure and the like. So, they want to deflect that.

But Hamas is incapable of truly abandoning the goal of destroying Israel without disintegrating, because the whole purpose of Hamas is the liquidation of the state of Israel, and pursuing it through terror.

Remember that people said that, if the ayatollahs comes to power, then government will restrain them, that, if the Taliban come to power, then the responsibility of government will restrain them.

It didn't happen there in either case. And it's not going to happen here, I'm afraid, because Hamas is constitutionally wedded to the concept of destroying Israel. It's a very, very bad setback for peace.

But I think what we have to do now is restore the policy of being very tough with terrorist regime, giving them no time of day, certainly giving them no additional territory, because any territory that we will -- we will give will be used against us, if you pardon the expression.

It will be used as a base for future terrorist attacks against Israel. I would change that policy and bring back the policy of peace through strength that effectively purchased peace for us during the three years that I was prime minister. We hardly had any terror attacks from Hamas. It wasn't because they liked me. It was because they respected the policy of strength that my government put forward.

That's the policy that Israel and the free world needs today.

I agree with much that Bibi says in this interview, EXCEPT I think that disengagemnt actually makes Israel more defensible, not less. RTWT.