Diplomacy

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Obama: No Nation Should Accept Terrorists Tunnelling Into Its Territory

In a phone call Friday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a phone call that was interrupted by Israeli air warning sirens, President Barack Obama reiterated his support for Israel to defend itself.

“While I was having the conversation with Prime Minister Netanyahu, sirens went off in Tel Aviv,” said Obama. “No nation should accept rockets being fired into its borders or terrorists tunnelling into its territory.”

While his support for Israeli action was clear, the president also had words of caution for Netanyahu. “We (understand) that the current military ground operations are designed to deal with the tunnels. We are hopeful that Israel will continue to approach this process in a way that minimizes civilian casualties.”

Public statements by Israeli leaders show that they are sensitive to this concern.

The Jerusalem Post reported on the phone call in the context of Netanyahu’s diplomatic outreach.

Netanyahu was scheduled to hold a number of telephone conversations with world leaders Friday to shore up international legitimacy for the Gaza operation and ensure “room to maneuver.” …

Diplomatic officials said that Israel will formally ask the UN to publish pictures of the missiles that on Thursday were found in an UNRWA school. This will help show the world that Hamas uses its schools to fire rockets on Israeli ones.

It was the second time this week that Obama expressed support for Operation Protective Edge. On Wednesday he said, “There’s no country on Earth that can be expected to live under a daily barrage of rockets.”

[Photo: Pete Souza / WikiCommons ]