Deputy Minister Ofir Akunis
Deputy Minister Ofir AkunisFlash 90

Deputy Minister Ofir Akunis (Likud) called on the international community to withdraw support for the Hamas-Fatah unity government Monday, in remarks made after visiting the family of kidnapped 16-year-old Naftali Frenkel in Nof Ayalon on Monday.

"It is the ultimate moral duty of the nations of the world to withdraw their recognition of the Palestinian terrorist government," Akunis stated. "We offer every foreign minister or ambassador from around the world to come here and see why they erred when they rushed to greet a Palestinian terrorist government."  

Several international bodies embraced the Palestinian Authority (PA) unity government, which was sworn in earlier this month, on the premise that reconciliation would bring peace to the PA, and that Hamas would have little to no government control. 

The European Union  backed the new governmenton condition that it sticks to the principle of peace with Israel based on a two-state solution.

The US has largely predicated its premise for suddenly announcing its willingness to 'work with' the new 'unity' government on the misnomer that the government does not actually include Hamas politicians. 

Despite this, Hamas announced that any "unity" government would be unequivocally subject to their approval before being established, and one of the Gaza-based unity ministers was previously the Education Minister in the Hamas government.

Israel has stated that it is "deeply disappointed" in the US following the announcement that it supports the new government, and Communications Minister Gilad Erdan went so far as to call the United States “naive”.