Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has set up a ministerial committee to decide  how Jerusalem should deal with the new Palestinian government that was jointly appointed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and the terrorist organization Hamas.

The first meeting on preparing plans on how to deal with the diplomatic and security fall-out resulting from the new reality is expected either Sunday or Monday.

Diplomatic officials in the Prime Minister’s Office, meanwhile, cited a speech Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh gave in Gaza on Friday declaring that Hamas would continue its armed resistance as evidence of the extremely problematic nature of the Hamas-Fatah unity pact for Israel.

Israel has been shocked by the extent to which the international community, including the United States, welcomed the new Palestinian cabinet, despite the fact that the U.S., the EU, and others have designated Hamas a terror entity.

Israel regards as flimsy the claim that ties with the Palestinians are permissible because the cabinet comprises technocrats. The international community has fallen prey to “tricks,” as Israeli strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz put it in a news conference organized by The Israel Project on June 2.

A June 6 editorial in The New York Times pointed to the dangers Israel faces with the new government.

Previous reconciliation efforts have quickly collapsed, and there are the inescapable facts of Hamas’s hatred of Israel and its heavily armed militia. Given that Mr. Abbas’s call for Palestinian elections in the West Bank and Gaza within six months could bring Hamas to power… the United States has to be careful to somehow distinguish between its support for the new government and an endorsement of Hamas and its violent, hateful behavior. To have some hope of doing that, the United States and Europe must continue to insist that Mr. Abbas stick to his promises and not allow Hamas to get the upper hand.

[Photo: Screenshot]