Islamic Jihad says it will continue resistance against Israel until the full liberation of the occupied al-Quds, reiterating that the Palestinians are not afraid of the occupying regime’s new far-right cabinet.
Tariq Salmi, the Islamic Jihad spokesman, made the remarks on Sunday, after Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet, the most right-wing in the regime’s history, was sworn in, according to Arabic-language al-Ahad television network. “In the New Year, we will continue our fight in the occupied cities of Jenin, Quds, Nablus, and the entire West Bank and we will continue until the liberation of al-Quds.”
He said Islamic Jihad fears neither Israel’s “fascist” cabinet nor its military’s threats.
Salmi said the “events of the past year will be remembered and the path of all those Palestinians who were killed will remain an incentive to continue the struggle against the Israeli regime.”
On Thursday, Netanyahu was sworn in as prime minister, with his cabinet promising to expand settlements in the occupied West Bank and pursue other anti-Palestinian policies. Netanyahu was ousted in June 2021 by a motley coalition of leftists, centrists and Arab parties headed by right-winger Naftali Bennett and former TV news anchor Yair Lapid. It didn’t take him long to come back.
Following his November 1 election win, Netanyahu entered into talks with ultra-Orthodox and extreme-right parties. His allies include the Religious Zionism formation and Jewish Power Party, whose leaders Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir oppose Palestinian statehood and both have a history of inflammatory remarks about the Palestinians. Smotrich will now take charge of Israeli settlement expansion policies in the West Bank, and Ben-Gvir will be the ‘national security’ minister with powers over the police, which have operated in the occupied territories since 1967.
Senior officials have already voiced concern over the new Israeli direction.
The Palestinian resistance movement Hams has expressed dismay with the new Israeli cabinet.
Read More:Palestinians not afraid of new Israeli cabinet
2023-01-01 15:17:00
